Star Trek: Matrix
by Agent Alexandra Paris
Summary: I wanted to do something a little different by combining my love of The Matrix and Star Trek. And yes we have female agents! Enjoy! This fan fic is now complete!
1. Chapter 1

_Author's note:_

_I'm a big fan of the Matrix as well as Star Trek and I had this idea to put my favorite Star Trek Characters in the Matrix universe just to try something a little different. And yes the agents in this story are women! You will be meeting agents Janeway, Hansen and Torres! The Matrix belongs to the Wachoski Brothers and Star Trek belongs to Gene Roddenberry and I am not making a dime off this fan fic. So sit back and enjoy!_

Chapter 1

A lone blonde man in his thirties stared at the computer screen in an empty room. He watched as the bright green cursor pulsed in the electronic darkness with phosphoreus light burning beneath the black glass. His communicator sounded, he answered.

"Hello?" It was a woman's voice on the other end.

"I'm inside. Anything to report?" Asked the man in a slight southern accent.

"Well let's see, the target left the Vulcan embassy at 17:01." The woman's voice answered him.

The man still continued to watch the screen as it filled with numbers and code.

"She caught the #6 shuttle craft northbound, stopped at 7-11. Purchased some nachos, diet coke and some minute rice and headed home." The woman on the other end told him.

"Okay you're relieved, use the usual exit." He told her.

"Do you know when we're going to make contact with the vulcan?" The woman asked.

"Soon." He said.

The man watched the screen until there were only two digits left.

"You know just between you and me, you don't believe it do you? You don't believe that this woman is the one?"

"I think Archer believes she is."

"I know. But what about you?"

"I think Archer knows things that I don't."

"Yeah, but what if he's wrong?"

He watched as the final number popped into place. He heard a noise.

"Did you hear that?" He asked her.

"Hear what?"

Finally the screen read that the vulcan's trace was complete.

"Hoshi, are you sure this line is clean?" He asked again.

"Yeah, of course I'm sure." Hoshi told him.

"I better get the hell outta here." He said.

"Yeah. Right. See ya on the other side Tripp."

"Tucker out."

He closed his communicator. In the background was a police transmission. He could hear it clearly.

"Attention all units! Attention all units!"

Four armed Federation Security officers with flashlights creeped down the darkened hallway. Each officer, two on each side of the door readied themselves to enter room 303. The biggest of them violently kicked open the door and entered the room with the others following behind him.

"FEDERATION SECURITY! FREEZE!" The officers yelled as they set their phasers set to kill on the man.

"HANDS ABOVE YOUR HEAD! NOW! DO IT!"

The man rose from his chair and put his hands behind his head.

On the street below, there was a black hovercraft with tinted windows that glided in. Two women stepped out the car. One being human and the other half-klingon, both wore identical dark women's business suits and dark sunglasses and on the left side of their lapels they wore com badges. The human woman addressed the andorian security officer.

"Luitenant." Her voice was stern yet mechanical.

"Oh shit." The andorian said.

"You were given specific orders ..."

"Listen lady, I'm just doin' my job. You give me the Juris-my dick-tion and you can cram it up your ass!"

"The orders were for your protection." She told him.

The andorian laughed at her comment.

"I think we can handle one puny pink-skin."

The human nodded to her half-klingon counterpart and they headed toward the old hotel.

"I sent two units. They're bringin' 'im down now!"

The human female looked at the andorian officer.

"No lieutenant, your men are already dead." She told him.

Meanwhile back in the room the bigger officer took out his cuffs, and the others were holding a bead. They had done this a hundred times and they knew they had him. The bigger officer reached for Tripp and then he moved quickly, too quickly. His movement almost did not register as he smacked with his palm breaking his nose and pushing the bone into his brain killing him instantly. He is dead before he hits the floor. One officer is startled and fires his phaser, Trip misses it and another officer is hit and vaporized. Another officer fired at him, Tripp twisted avoiding the shot. He did a roundhouse kick, knocking the phaser away. Another officer began to scream as Tripp jumped with a kick that crushed his wind pipe. He fell to the ground. Tripp looked at what was left of the dead bodies.

"Fuck." He said to himself.

The klingon female was inside the hotel, while the human female headed for the alley.

Tripp was on his communicator pacing the room. Finally he got an answer.

"Operator." Said a male voice.

"Archer! The link was traced! I don't know how the hell it happened but it did!" Tripp was now afraid for his life.

"I know. Stay calm." Archer told him.

"Are there any empire agents?" Tripp asked.

"Yes." Was Archer's reply.

"Goddamnit!" Tripp yelled.

"Tripp you have to focus. There is a com link. MLK and Fremont. You can make it." Archer told him calmly.

Tripp took a deep breath and centered himself.

"Okay." He said.

"Go." Archer ordered him.

He dropped his communicator and ran like hell. As he bursted out of the room he saw the klingon woman leading another unit of Federation Security officers. He raced to the opposite end of the hallway, jumping through a broken window and onto the fire escape. He looked below and saw the human female staring at him through her dark sunglasses. He continued to race up until her reached the roof. He kept running as the klingon and her posse pursued him. He jumped from one roof to the next. The officers just stood there with their mouths wide open as the klingon followed, also jumping from rooftop to rooftop in pursuit of her prey. There was a building that was at least 100 feet away. Tripp remained calm. The officers continued to follow but they expected something ugly as he was about to jump some more. He launched himself into the air and as he flew the ground beneath him seemed to hang in mid-flight. He landed on the roof of the other building and somersaulted up still running hard.

"Holy fucking shit! That's impossible!" Said the lieutenant.

They stared slack jawed as the klingon woman imitated the same move, landing and rolling over her shoulder, up onto one knee with her hand phaser drawn. Just below the building were tracks of riveted steel. A long shuttle train rushed beneath him in a sleek streak of grey. He jumped landing easily. He looked back just as the klingon hurled herself through the air catching the last car. She stood pulling out her phaser. Tripp started to run as phaser blasts whipped past him. Ahead, he saw his only chance and it was fifty feet away before the hover train turned. He leaped towards his target reaching it with ease. He covered his head as he fell through the window and down a stair case with explosions not to far behind him. The whole world seemed to be spinning around him at that moment. But yet he is still alive. He looked at the klingon on top of the hover train as it turned, she tapped her com badge.. He tried to move, but every bone in his body hurt like hell.

"Get up, Tripp. You're fine. Get up ... just get up!" He told himself.

He stood and limped down the rest of the stairs. He emerged from the shadows of the ally and walked to the end of the block where he found himself in a pool of white street light and then he saw it ... the com booth. It begins sound off and his heart began to race. Across the street a large refuse hover craft suddenly u-turned, it accelerated towards the booth. Tripp saw the headlights aiming to the booth as if it was taking aim at it's target. He gritted through his pain a raced towards the booth. The large hover craft would do the same. He slammed into the booth and picked up the communicator. He was frozen in an instant of silence before the hulking mass lurched up onto the sidewalk and smashed the booth to peices. A few moments later a black high heel stepped out the drivers side, it was the human female. She inspected the wreckage and there was no body to be found. She gritted her teeth in frustration. A blonde woman who was part borg and wore the same ensemble as she did walked up behind her.

"Did you get anything from the room?" She asked the borg woman.

"Their next target. The name is T'Pol." The borg female responded.

The smashed communicator laid on the ground separated from the booth like a severed limb.

"We will need a search running." Said the human female.

"It has already begun." The borg female reassured her.


	2. Chapter 2

_Author's note:_

_Here is Chapter 2 of my crossover story. I didn't really care for Rob Zombie in the original Matrix movie so I changed the song to Sinner by Drowning Pool when Tripp meets T'Pol in the club to warn her. I hope you enjoy this next exciting installment of Matrix Trek!_

Chapter 2

In small apartment, a vulcan female is looking at her computer screen. She was inside of a chatroon called The Matrix. It was a place in cyberspace where she spoke with others like herself. She watched the screen as the words appeared.

WESLEYSGRRRRL: I heard Archer has been on this board.

SMITHSBABE: Shit! Archer doesn't even exsist and the Matrix is nothing but a promo for a new online game coming out on the market!

CATWOMAN1969: All I want to know is Tripp really a guy?

GOLUM: 87 of all men online are really girls anyway.

ILUVELROND: No the Matrix is probably another planet out there somewhere.

WESLEYSGRRRRRL: No, it is a system controlling our lives all over the galaxy.

CATWOMAN1969: You mean like MTV or VH1?

WESLEYSGRRRRRL: No more like PS5.

MIGHTYKAHLESS: ALL HAIL PS5!

The vulcan continued to watch to conversation unfold on screen, surrounding her were weed-like coil cables, duct-taped into all corners of her quarters that wound around the legs of her table.. Next to her was her another table with cannibalized equipment that laid open displayed like an autopsied alien corpse. She continued to watch the screen as she ate her nachos and drank her diet coke.

"These idiots don't know jack shit." She said out loud to herself.

She finished her nachos and as she was about to disconnect an anonymous message appeared on her screen.

"Do you know what the matrix is T'Pol?"

She froze as she read her name on the screen.

WESLEYSGRRRRRL: What the fuck said that?

CATWOMAN1969: Who's T'Pol?

SMITHSBABE: This is a private board!

"If you want to know, follow the white rabbit."

"What the fuck?" T'Pol said out loud to herself.

WESLEYSGRRRRRL: Okay, this is so not cool! Some is hacking the hackers!

AGENTPARIS: It's Archer!

CATWOMAN1969: Identify yourself asshole!

"Knock, knock T'Pol."

A chill ran down her spine and not less than a few moments later she heard a knock at her door making her almost jump out of her chair. She looked at the door then back at the computer screen. The message was gone. She shook her head in disbelief and not so sure of what had just happened. Again there was another knock at the door. She rose from her seat and approached the door cautiously.. She heard a familiar voice on the other side.

"Hey girlfriend! You in there?"

She recognized the voice and she opened the door. It was her neighbor Christine who live down the hall, she was standing outside with a group of her friends.

"What do you want Christine?" T'Pol asked the blonde human female.

"Listen, I need your help. I'm desperate and they really got my nipples in a pinch. You know the shackles of Federation fascism."

Christine held up a red notice that said her hover craft was booted.

"You got the money this time?" T'Pol asked her.

Christine held up five hundred dollars as T'Pol opened her door. Christine's attractive half-vulcan boyfriend who went by the name of Spock stopped her before she took the money from Christine's hand.

"Can you really get that thing off? Like now?" Spock asked her.

Christine wrapped her arms around Spock's waist and kissed his neck.

"I told ya baby, she may look like just another Fderation geek, but she is all we got left standing between Big Brother and The New Galactic Order." Christine told her lover.

She proceeded to hand T'Pol the money.

"I'll have it right off. Just give me a few minutes."

"We'll be waiting." Christine told her.

T'Pol closed the door and put the cash in her usual hiding place. She went to computer to work her hacking magic. Within a few minutes, the boot was taken off of Christine's hover craft. Christine and her group looked outside of the apartment building as the officer took the bright red boot off. Christine lit a cigarette as they waited.

"Just look at 'em will ya? Automatons. Don't think about what they're doing or why. Computer tells 'em what to do and they do it." The blonde mused as she took a long drag of her smoke.

"The banality of evil." Said a dark skinned human woman next to her.

T'Pol opened the door and walked towards the group.

"Thank you neighbor." Christine said.

"Hey why don't you come to the party with us?" Spock asked her.

"I don't know you guys, I have to go to work tomorrow." T'Pol told them.

"Come on." Spock said with a slight grin. "It'll be fun ... I promise." His tone was almost flirtatious towards her.

And then she spied Spock's tattoo on the right side of his well chiseled chest and right above his nipple ring, his tattoo was that of a white rabbit. She immediately changed her mind.

"Yeah, yeah. Sure. I'll go." She nodded.

About thirty minutes later they reached a dark club and loud techo thrash metal was playing. T'Pol watched as the middle of the dance floor became an alien mosh pit. She stood back against the wall drinking a beer.

_Bend me,_

_Shape me,_

_Misdirect me,_

_It's all the same to me_

_Look at all this useless talk!_

She heard a male voice behind her.

"Hello T'Pol."

She didn't turn around.

"How do you know my name?"

_You look at me but you don't see_

_Understand I'm a sinner_

_Don't corner me_

_Don't lecture me_

_Raise your hands you're a sinner!_

"I know a lot about you. I've been wanting to meet for a very long time." Said the blonde man in his slight southern drawl.

"Who are you?" T'Pol asked him.

"My name is Tripp."

_Is everything you wanted to find another dream_

_You never hear another word I say_

_So pray_

_I'm a sinner_

She raised one eyebrow.

"Tripp? The Tripp? The Tripp that cracked the Federation database in Washington D.C.?"

"That was a long time ago."

She took a big drink of her beer and shook her head.

"Jesus Christ." She said to herself.

_Look at all these people in front of me_

_Look at all these people in front of me_

_You look at me, but you don't see_

_Understand I'm a sinner_

_Don't corner me_

_Don't lecture me_

_Raise your hands you're a sinner!_

"What?" Tripp asked her.

"All this time, I thought you were a girl."

"Most girls do." He answered.

She felt a little embarrassed.

"Do you want to go somewhere and talk?" She asked him.

"No. It's not safe here and I don't have much time." He told her.

The music continued to get louder and Tripp and T'Pol stood very close and began to speak into each other's ear.

"That was you on the board tonight. That was your note, wasn't it?"

"I had to take a gamble that you would see it and they wouldn't." He explained.

"Who wouldn't?" She asked.

"I can't explain everything to you. I'm sure that this is all going to seem very strange, but I brought you here to warn you T'Pol. You are in a lot of danger."

"What? Why?"

"They're watching you. Something happened and they found out about you. Normally if our target is exposed, we let it go. But this time, we can't."

"I'm not following you Tripp."

"You came here tonight because you wanted the answer."

"The Matrix. What is The Matrix?"

"Ten years ago I met a man, a great man who said no one could be told the answer to that question. They to see with their own eyes to believe it." Tripp told her.

His body was pressed close against hers, his lips were very close to her alien ear. He continued to speak.

"He told me that no one should look for the answer unless they have to because once you see it, everything changes. Your life and the galaxy you live in will never be the same. It is if you wake up one morning and the sky is lime green."

There was a hypnotic quality in his light southern drawl that made his words feel like a drug to her. His voice almost seeped into her body as he continued to speak.

"The truth is out there T'Pol. It's looking for you and it will find you. if you want it to."

She looked into his deep blue eyes as he spoke more, she was entranced.

"That's all I can tell you right now. Good-bye T'Pol. And good luck."

He turns to leave and she starts to speak.

"Wait. Who is it? Who was this man?" She asked him.

He leaned closer to her once more. His lips almost touched her ear as he spoke once more.

"You know who he is."

He turned and disappeared into the sea of alien bodies in the club as the music continued to play.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

T'Pol turned her half open eyes to her alarm and immediately they snapped open. She was late for work at the embassy.

"Fuckfuckfuck!"

She got dressed and rushed out the door. She ran down the hallway and down the stairs like a bat out of hell. She knew that if she were to be late one more time her ass would be fired. As it was her boss was not too happy with her performance. She caught the shuttle train and arrived at the embassy. The clock above the building read 09:15, she was 15 minutes late. She entered the building and made her way to her desk. She had hoped that her supervisor would not notice her tardiness but no such luck. One of her co-workers a somewhat heavyset Denobian male by the name of Phlox walked up to her desk.

"Ms. Rogers is really pissed off, she wants to see you in her office." Phlox warned her.

"Oh great!" T'Pol sighed as she took a sip of her morning coffee.

A few moments later the door to Ms. Roger's office wooshed open and out of it a middle aged human woman with slightly grey hair stepped out and looked in T'Pol's direction. She had a look that could kill and entire planet.

"Ah so nice of you to join us this morning." Said the woman as she stared T'Pol down through her bi-focals.

"I'm sorry to be late Ms. Rogers." T'Pol apologized.

"We'll talk about this in my office in five minutes."

The woman stepped back into her office and the door wooshed behind her as she stepped back inside. Gathering her courage, T'Pol went in and took a seat. Mrs. Troi was typing at a computer console. Ms. Rogers began to speak.

"You have a problem, young lady. You think that you're special. You believe that somehow the rules do not apply to you."

Mrs. Troi stopped clacking at her keyboard for a moment and looked over at T'Pol who was watching two Romulan window cleaners on the scaffolding outside as they dragged their squeegees down the glass. She turned her head to look at Ms. Rogers.

"Obviously my dear you are mistaken." The woman informed her.

Mrs. Troi's long slender fingers continued to type at the console as she continued speaking to T'Pol.

"This embassy is one of the most respected in the galaxy, because every single employee understands that they are a part of a whole. Thus if an employee has a problem, then the embassy has a problem.

She turned to face T'Pol again.

"The time has come to make a choice T'Pol. Either you choose to be at your desk on time from now on, or you can choose to find yourself another job. Do I make myself clear?"

T'Pol nodded.

"Yes Mrs. Troi. Perfectly clear."

She stepped out Mrs. Troi's office and went back to her desk. She took her seat and slumped down into her chair. By this time a woman in a blue dress with long dark curly hair walked by. Her name was Deanna. She stopped and looked in her direction.

"So what did Mrs. Troi say?" Deanna asked.

"She said that if I were to be late again, I would be fired." She answered.

"Well it was nice working with you." Deanna said with a smirk.

T'Pol glared at her as she walked off. A few moments later a young african-american human male in his early twenties walked up to her desk.

"T'Pol." The young man asked.

"Yes? That's me." She answered.

He handed her a package.

"This is for you."

He handed her the package and the electronic board for her to sign. She signed for it and then you the young man made his exit.

"Have a nice day." He said with a smile.

Once she was alone she opened the bag. Inside of it was a communicator. She grabbed it and instantly it went off. Unnerved she flipped it open. She spoke into it.

"Hello?"

"Hello T'Pol. This is Archer." The male voice was quite calm.

Her knees gave way and she sunk back into her chair. She could not believe what was happening at that moment.

"I had hoped for this conversation to take place under less adverse conditions, but you can never count on hope, can you, T'Pol?" Asked the man on the other end.

" ... no" She answered.

The man on the other end continued to speak.

"I've been watching you, T'Pol, and I want to meet you. I don't know if you're ready to see what I want to show you, but unfortunately we have run out of time. They're coming for you T'Pol. And I am not sure what they are going to do."

T'Pol was now scared by this man's words.

"Who's coming for me?" She demanded.

"Stan up and see for yourself." The man told her.

"You mean right now?"

"Yes. Now." The man told her calmly.

She started to stand.

"Do it very slowly. And look towards the turbo lift." The man instructed.

She slowly peeked her head over the wall, at the entrance of the turbo lift she say three women, a human, a klingon, and a borg all in matching dark suits and dark shades. All three women also wore the exact same style pin on the right side of their lapels. She spied a short ferengi male pointing her direction. She ducked quickly.

"Holy fuckin' shit!" She said under her breath.

A single Federation Secruity officer was standing at the entrance of the turbo lift. The rest of the officers followed the three women.

"What the fuck do they want with me!" She asked the man she couldn't see.

"I am not sure. But if you don't want to find out, you better get out of there."

"How!"

"I can guide you. But you have to do exactly as I say." The man told her.

The three women moved quickly to T'Pol's desk.

"The cubicle in front of you is empty."

"But what if ...?"

"Go! Now!" The man ordered.

She lunged across the hall, diving into the empty space just as the three women turned to her row. She crammed herself into a dark corner clutching the communicator tightly to her.

"Now stay there for a moment." He told her.

The three women stopped at T'Pol's empty desk. An officer went to search the bathrooms.

By now the man's voice was a whisper in her ear.

"Just a little longer T'Pol ..."

The klingon female spoke to Deanna as T'Pol looked at them from her hiding place. By this time the voice spoke again.

"When I tell you, go to the end of the row to the first office on the left, stay s low as you can." He told her.

"Now." He told her.

T'Pol ran as she couched to the empty office. She did this as fast as she could. Sweat trickled down her forehead. She froze for a moment but kept going. She reached the empty office. The man spoke once more.

"Good. Now there is a window. Open it."

"How the hell do you know all of this?" She was now panicked.

The man on the other end laughed quietly.

"The answer is coming T'Pol."

She opened the window and wind howled into the room. The voice still transmitted over the communicator.

"Outside, there is a scaffold. You can use it to get to the roof."

She leaned out the window and she saw that the scaffold was several offices away.

"No! I can't! It's too far away!" She told him.

"Alright, there's a small ledge. It's a short climb. You can make it." He said.

T'Pol looked down the building's glass and it seemed to spin, she looked back up.

"No fucking way! This is crazy!" She told the man.

"Don't be controlled by your fear T'Pol. There are only two ways out of this building. One is that scaffold. The other is in their custody. You take a chance either way. I leave it to you. Archer out."

The man cut his communication off. She looked at the door and then at the scaffold.

"This is insane! Why is this happening to me? What did I do? I'm nobody! I didn't do anything! Shit! Shit! Shit!" She cursed out loud to herself.

She gathered the courage to climb out to the ledge. She hung on to the frame for dear life as she stepped onto a small ledge. With every step she took the scaffold seemed further away.

"I'm gonna die!" T'Pol said to herself.

Out of nowhere, the wind blasted up the side of the building, knocking her off balance. Recoiling, she clung harder to the frame, but the communicator fell out of her hand and dropped to the street below.

She shook her head.

"This is illogical! I can't do this! Forget it!"

Finally she climbed back into the office where the three women and several Federation officers were waiting for her. They put her in cuffs

"I didn't do anything." She told them.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Tripp was waiting on a motorcycle outside of the building and then in the rearview mirror he spied the three women taking T'Pol out in handcuffs.

"Son-of-a-bitch!" He said out loud to himself.

He watched as they loaded her into the back of black government hovercraft. The license plate read IS 5416. It drove off and headed down the street.

A few moments later, they were in a white room. T'Pol sat alone. Before the three women entered they watched via a monitor on closed circuit TV, not too long after that, the human, the klingon and the borg entered the room. The human female sat across from T'Pol. In her hand she had a small compact data disk, she slapped it on the table between them. T'Pol glanced over at the disk which clearly read:

T'Pol, planet Vulcan.

The red-haired human female started to speak in a precise mechanical, yet commanding tone towards her.

"We have had our eye on you for quite some time now, T'Pol."

She slipped the disk into the console next to her. On the screen was all of her information from the day she was born. T'Pol could not tell if the agent was looking at her or at the console through her dark sunglasses. The red-haired human female spoke again without any emotion in her voice.

"It seems that you have been living two lives. In one life you are T'Pol from the planet Vulcan and an employee at the Vulcan embassy. You have a social security number, you even pay your taxes, and you even take the land lady's pet targ to the clinic, when it falls ill."

The woman continued to scroll down the screen, still looking at T'Pol's personal and private information.

"The other life is lived in computers, where you are a known hacker and you are guilty of every computer crime against the Federation that we have a law for, including the unauthorized use of the D.M.V. system to remove a boot form your neighbor's hover car." The woman told her.

T'Pol felt like sinking into a deep pit of shit at that moment.

"One of these lives has a future. One of them does not."

The human female turned off the console and turned to her.

"I am going to be as forthcoming as I can be, T'Pol. You are here because we need your help."

She removed her sunglasses, her eyes were a very unnatural electric blue. T'Pol was transfixed as she continued to speak.

"We know that you have been contacted by a certain individual. A man who calls himself Archer. Whatever you think you know about this man is irrelevant to th fact that he is wanted for acts of terrorism on more planets than any other man in the galaxy. He is considered by many authorities to be the most dangerous man alive."

She leaned closer to T'Pol.

"My colleagues believe that I am wasting my time with you, but I believe you want to do the right thing. It is obvious that you are an intelligent woman T'Pol, and that you are interested in the future.

That is why I feel you are ready to put your past mistakes behind you and get on with your life."

T'Pol matched the human woman's stare, still not saying a word.

"We are willing to wipe the slate clean, to give you a fresh start and all we are asking in return is your cooperation in bringing a known terrorist to Federation justice."

T'Pol nodded to herself and finally she started to speak.

"Yes, that sounds quite logical. But I think I have a much better idea. How about if I give you the finger."

T'Pol flipped her off.

"And you can cram that data disk right up your Federation Secret Service ass."

The human woman with a heavy sigh put her sunglasses back on.

"You disappoint me, T'Pol."

She gave the woman a smirk.

"You haven't seen anything yet." T'Pol said with a hint of sarcasm.

The woman sat back in her chair and folded her hands. She raised one eyebrow behind her dark sunglasses as she spoke again.

"The irony of the situation is that you have no choice."

By this point T'Pol was started to get pissed off. She glared back at the agent.

"Listen, you can't scare me with this Nazi bullshit. I know my rights and I want my communique."

All the woman did was just smile and laugh slightly.

"And tell me, T'Pol, what good is a communique if you have no mouth to speak with?"

She seemed unnerved by the comment and she felt the muscles around her mouth tighten. The klingon and the borg also watched as they began to snicker at her predicament. She started to panic as her lips started to become soft and sticky and began to seal shut. It continued until her mouth no longer exsisted. She was wild with fear, she tried to lunged for the door but the other two alien women restrained her and slammed her onto the table with a hard thud. She struggled under their steel grip but she could not get loose

"You are going to help us, T'Pol, whether you want to, or not." The human woman told her in a menacing tone.

She nodded for her two alien counterparts to rip open her shirt, exposing her bra and her navel. She reached to her right side and opened a case. Out of it she took what looked to be a long fiberoptic wire tap. T'Pol struggled helplessly as the woman dangled the tap over her navel. As if by some sort of magic, the long tap came alive in her fingers and started to squirm. It had become very worm-like as it furrowed into her belly causing her unbearable pain that sear through her whole body. She bucked wildly under the two women who were holding her down but it was no use. She had hoped it would be nothing but a bad dream ...

T'Pol bolted upright in her bed in a cold sweat, she finally realized where she was. She was at home and safe in her bed. She looked at her stomach, she didn't see any damage. She put her hands to her mouth, it was still there. She let out a deep sigh of relief. She sat up and took several deep breaths, it was silent. Her bedside communicator went off, making her jump out of her skin. She hesitated for a few moments as it still went off. Finally she answered.

"This line is tapped, so I must be brief." It was the same man on the cell phone from the office.

"The agents ... " She started to say.

"They got to you first, but they've underestimated as to how important you really are. If they knew what I know, you would already be dead."

T'Pol felt sick to her stomach at that moment. The man continued talking to her.

"I don't know what you are thinking right now but I want you to understand that I will not give up on you until you have given up on me."

Her throat cracked, it was very dry.

"Do you still want to meet?" Asked the man.

"Yes ..." T'Pol answered him.

"Good. Take the train to downtown, get off at the end of the line. Archer out."

The link went dead. T"pol closed her eyes and hoped that she would not regret her decision. She got dressed and headed for the train going to downtown, she got off at the end of the line just as she was told to do. It was raining quite hard that night. For a few moments she is alone and then a sliver hover car pulled up next to her. She watched as the back door opened. A couple a dark figures rushed towards her, grabbed her and put her in the car, they covered her mouth in duct tape. In the darkness of the vehicle. She could hear a man's slight southern accent. It was the same voice she heard at the club the other night.

"We got her." He said.

She felt the tape being ripped off her mouth in a very fast and painful motion.

"What are you doing?" She asked the dark figures.

Tripp turned on the light. Finally she saw who her new captors were.

"I'm sorry T'Pol, but this has to be done for your protection as well as ours. I don't expect you really understand right now, but if you're not one of us, you're one of them." Tripp said.

She realized that a phaser rifle was pointed at her head.

"Is this really necessary?" She asked the gun man.

"You might be bugged." Tripp told her.

T'Pol's eyes got wide.

"Bugged?"

"We can't take you to Archer until we de-bug you."

"I don't understand?" Why in the hell would I be bugged?"

"Travis, Malcolm. Hold her down."

T'Pol watched as Tripp took out what looked like a medium sized vacuum cleaner.

"What the hell is that thing?" She asked him nervously.

"Just hold still." He told her calmly.

He held it to her navel and something moved in her abdomen like a parasite.

"Oh my God!" She screamed.

"Almost there."

"You're gonna lose it!" Malcolm said.

"No, I'm not!" Tripp said.

"T'Pol was in shock as she looked down at her stomach, the parasite still moving inside of her.

"Gotcha!" Tripp said.

And with a swift, quick vacuuming suction, the worm-like probe was out of her. The window was rolled own quickly and the probe was thrown into the street with a clink as it hit the pavement.

"JESUS FUCKING CHRIST! THAT THING WAS REAL?"

T'Pol looked out the back and noticed the probe as the red light that activated it went out, rendering it useless. A few moments later they pulled up to a dark old building. T'Pol was escorted inside and guided up three flights of stairs. As they were walking up the stairs Tripp spoke to her.

"This is it." He said.

T'Pol could feel her heart pounding as Tripp continued to speak to her.

"Let me give you one piece of advice. Be honest. He knows more than you can possibly imagine."

They reached room 1701, they opened the door and as they stepped inside they were greeted by an attractive brown haired, caucasian man in his early fifties. He wore a long grey jacket with a tie and mirrored circular sunglasses. When he smiled and it lit up the room instantly.

"Ah at last." He said.

He rose from his chair and then he took T'Pol's hand and kissed it.

"Welcome T'Pol. As you no doubt have guessed, I am Archer."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

T'Pol stood facing Archer. Finally she spoke.

"It is an honor to meet you finally." She said.

Archer gestured over to two chairs that were a faded red but were still made of very soft velvet.

"Come, sit." He told her.

He nodded to Tripp

"Thank you Tripp."

Tripp bowed his head slightly in acknowledgment to his leader and headed for the door to the adjacent room. T'Pol and Archer took their seats across from each other. He spoke again in a very calm yet hypnotic voice.

"I imagine right now, you must be feeling a little bit like Dorothy, being sucked into the tornado."

"Yes you could say that." She answered him.

"I can see it in your eyes. You have to look at someone who accepts what they see, because they are expecting to wake up."

A smile curled the corner of Archer's lips as he continued to speak.

"Ironically, this is not too far from the truth. But I'm getting way ahead of myself. Can you tell me, T'Pol, why you are here?" He asked her as he raised one eyebrow through his mirrored sunglasses.

"You are Archer, you're a legend. Most hackers across the galaxy would die to meet you." She answered.

Archer nodded.

"Yes. Thank you. But I believe we both know there is more to it than that. Do you believe in fate, T'Pol?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because I do not like the idea that I am not in control of my own life."

Archer smiled back at her.

"I know exactly what you mean."

He pauses and leaned back in his chair as he folded his hands in his lap. He spoke again.

"Let me tell you why you are here. You are here because you have the gift."

T'Pol was now confused by Archer's comment.

"The gift?"

He leaned in and spoke.

"I've watched you T'Pol. You do not use a computer like a tool. You use it like it was a part of yourself. What you can do inside a computer is not normal for any life form. I know. I have seen it. And what you do is considered magic.

T'Pol shrugged at his comment.

"It is not really magic." She told him.

"But it is T'Pol. It is. How else would you describe what has been happening to you."

He leaned closer to her.

"We are trained in this galaxy to accept only what is rational and logical. Have you ever wondered why?"

T'Pol shook her head.

"As children we do not separate the impossible from the possible which is why a younger mind is the easier to free while a mind like yours can be very difficult."

Free from what?" T'Pol asked him.

"The matrix." Archer answered her.

She tried locking her eyes on to Archers but all she saw was her reflection in his mirrored sunglasses.

"Do you want to know what it is T'Pol?"

She nodded her head. The chair creaked a little as he sat back.

"The matrix is everywhere, it's all around us. You can see it out your window, or while you're travling to another planet. You feel it when you go to work, pay your taxes, or even go to church. It is the universe that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth."

"What truth?"

"That you are a slave, T'Pol. That you, like everyone else, was born into bondage ... kept inside a little prison that you cannot smell, taste, or even touch. A prison for your mind."

Outside the wind howled and rain battered the loose pane of glass next to them.

"Unfortunately, no one can be told what the Matrix is. You have to see it for yourself."

"How?" T'Pol asked him.

Archer held out both of his hands. In his right hand was a blue pill and in the other hand was a red pill. Archer continued to speak.

"This is your last chance. After this, there is no going back."

He held out the hand with the blue pill.

"You take the blue pill and the story ends. You wake in your bed and you believe whatever you want to believe."

And then he held out the hand with the red pill.

"You take the red pill and you stay in Oz and I show you how far the tornado goes."

T'Pol looked at both pills, trying to decide.

"Remember all that I am offering is the truth. Nothing more." Archer told her.

T'Pol took the red pill and swallowed it. Archer smiled like a cheshire cat.

"Follow me." He told her.

They went to the adjacent room where Tripp was. It was full of high-tech equipment and several computer screens with keyboards. Tripp, Hoshi, and a Denobian by the name of Phlox looked their way.

Hoshi let out a disappointed sigh.

"Shit." She said.

"I knew she would." Tripp answered with a smile.

Hoshi took Archer aside and spoke to him in a hushed tone away from T'Pol.

"Listen, I know what you believe but I think this is a mistake. You're rushing her and she's too old. I'm afraid she might pop." She said with concern.

"Haven't I always told you, Hoshi, not to let fear control your life."

He turned to Phlox.

"Phlox are we online?"

"Almost." Phlox answered.

Phlox and Tripp were working quickly, hardwiring a system of monitors, modules, drives and keyboards. T'Pol looked towards Phlox.

"Phlox? Didn't you write the Pon Far virus?" She asked.

"Yep that was me." Phlox said proudly.

Archer spoke again.

"T'Pol, time is always against us. Will you take a seat there?" He said as he pointed to the seat behind her.

T'Pol sat and Tripp gently attached white electrode disks to her head, arms and the back of her neck. Right next to her there was a mirror that was cracked.

"I imagine you know something about holographic reality." Archer said.

"A little, I know some planets have it and we don't." T'Pol answered him.

"Well, tell me about it."

"Essentially, it is a holographic matrix system that uses a dilithium energy source. Voice protocals are used to make it as real or a s unreal as you want it to make you feel that you are in some sort of program." T'Pol explained.

"Well if the holographic matrix system as you put it is wired to all your senses and voice protocols had controlled them completely. You would be able to tell the difference between the real world and the holographic world?" Archer asked.

"No, you wouldn't." T'Pol said.

She turned and saw the mirror slowly repair itself.

"What the fuck? What is happening here?" She asked Archer.

"The pill you took was a part of a trace program. It's going to make things seem a little strange." Archer explained.

T'Pol poked two fingers at the mirror, it stretched and bowed as she pulled them away. Leaving this cool liquid metal that was now creeping up her arm. She started to panic.

"SHIT!"

She was now afraid for her life as the ooze was now making it's way to her throat. Not doing anything, Archer sat there calmly while Phlox, Hoshi, and Tripp were all checking her vital signs on the screen.

"What the hell did you just give me?" T'Pol asked him.

"Just relax T'Pol." Archer told her in a calm tone.

She looked at her arm which was now covered in liquid silver and it slowly creeped up her chin and up to her mouth..

"Oh my God!"

"It's going into replication captain." Tripp told Archer.

"Phlox?"

"Still nothing." Phlox answered.

Archer took out his communicator, it chirped as he flipped it open.

"Malcolm, we're going to need the signal soon!" Archer said

And then he turned to T'Pol.

"Stay calm." He reassured her.

The liquid ooze took on a life of it's own as it spread over her.

"It's so cold." She could barely speak.

She strected trying to keep her mouth above the silver ooze.

"It's all over me." She said with panic in her voice.

"I got a fibrillation!" Tripp said.

Hoshi shook her head next to Tripp.

"Goddammit, I knew it." She said.

"Shit! Phlox?" Archer turned towards the Denoblian.

Streams of silver went up T'Pol's mouth and nose.

"Almost there!" Phlox said.

An alarm sounded. Tripp snapped his head quickly tot look at the screen behind him.

"Captain! She's going into arrest!" He shouted.

"Lock! I got her!" Phlox shouted in triumph.

"Now Macolm! Now!" Archer said into his communicator.

It was not too late, the liquid silver spread to her whole body, she tried to scream but she couldn't, she arched in agony and she felt like she was being pulled through a small corridor. She closed her eyes ...

She opened them again and she was submerged in a red goo, tubes were everywhere on her body and it looked like a very surreal nightmare. Her body spasmed fighting against the thick jello like substance that surrounded her. She pressed up and the roof to the pod she was in lifted off she emerged form her cell and looked all around her. A few moments later, the tubes snapped from her body like snakes and she jerked as each one broke free from her body. All around her, the goo drained from the pod and she was sent spiraling down a tunnel. She could not stop, she was out of control and there was nothing she could do about it. Finally she went out a large hole and was dropped into a dark murky lake of water. She struggled to keep her head above water. Out of nowhere, set of claws grabbed her and she fell unconscious as they pulled her into the waiting ship. Once inside, she was still a little disoriented as they took her sick bay. She was laid down on a bio bed and monitored. She looked up and there was Archer, Tripp, Hohsi and Phlox all staring down at her. She looked in Archers direction as he smiled at her.

"Welcome to the real world, T'Pol." He said

And then everything went black.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

T'Pol faded in and out of consciousness for what seemed like endless moments of time. During her comatose state she heard voices that belonged to Archer and Tripp. Other voices she could not recognize.

"Do you think Archer is right? Do you think she could be the one?" Asked a british sounding male voice.

"It doesn't matter now. But if he's wrong ..." Said a woman's voice she did not recognize.

A few hours later T'Pol's eyes fluttered open. The first sight she saw above her was Tripp's face, he looked almost angelic in the luminescent glow that surrounded him.

"Am I dead?" T'Pol asked him.

"Far from it." Tripp answered her.

And it went black once again...

A few hours later she opened her eyes once more, this time she felt something tingling through her, She focused her eyes for just a moment and she saw her body pierced with several acupuncture like needles that were wired to a strange device. She heard a woman's voice.

"She's going to need lots of work."

"I know." Archer said.

The woman and Archer started operating on T'Pol. She was still groggy.

"What are you doing?" She asked them.

"Your muscles have atrophied. We're rebuilding them." Archer explained.

She looked up at the light, her eyes hurt just to look at it. Even her inner lids hurt.

"Why do my eyes hurt?" She asked him.

"You've never used them before." Archer explained.

He took off his sunglasses and placed them over her eyes. She laid back down on the table.

"Rest T'Pol, the answers are coming." He said in a soothing tone.

T'Pol awoke from her deep sleep in another room. She felt much better, she took a look at her attire which was a sweatshirt and shorts. She began to examine herself. She noticed that there were holes in her arms and she noticed a single jack in her forearm. She pulled it out staring at the grafted outlet. She reached up to feel her head, it was slightly fuzzy like someone had shaved her head. Her fingers explored her skull until she found a huge socket in the back of her neck. She started to panic and at that moment Archer walked through the door.

"What has happened to me? What is this place?" T'Pol demanded to know.

"More important is when?" He said.

"When?" T'Pol was now even more confused.

"You believe it is the year 2166 when in fact it is closer to 2366. I can't say for certain what year it is because we honestly do not know." Archer explained.

She felt like the wind had been knocked out of her.

"That is not possible." She shook her head in disbelief.

"I promised you the truth, T'Pol, and truth is that the galaxy you are living in is one big lie."

"How?"

"I'll show you."

T'Pol followed Archer out of her quarters and like a lost child, she followed him through the ship. Finally they reached the main deck where they were greeted by all of Archer's crew

"This is the bridge, you know most of my crew."

Tripp smiled looked towards T'Pol and nodded in acknowledgment.

"The ones you don't know. That is Malcolm and Travis.. The mother and son team are Beverly and Wesley."

The names and faces washed meaninglessly over T'Pol.

"And this is our communications channel. This is were we broadcast our pirate signal and hack into planet Matrix." Archer said.

She looked at the swamp of consoles and bizarre equipment. Vines of coaxial circled the bridge and stabbed into battery outlets, dilithium crystals suspended in containers all hooked up to one power source to keep the ship running. At the center of the bridge she saw three chairs which looked like ecto skeletons that were made of a poly alloy frame and each had a suspension harness attached. Near the chairs was a remote console where the whole network was monitored.

"Help her, Tripp." Archer said as he gave the order for his assistance.

She allowed herself to be helped into the center chair by him. Archer was now at her side as he spoke into her ear.

"Do you remember when I asked you about holographic technology?"

T'Pol nodded.

"It's right here."

He touched her head.

"And it's accessed here."

She felt him guiding a small plug to the back of her neck. She that it had some sort of cerebellum chip attached.

"Now this is going to feel a little ... weird." Archer told her.

She tensed up as several disturbing noises were made. Her eyes closed tightly. Her face tightened and her pointed ears popped. Finally she relaxed. She opened her eyes again and she felt weightless in this white open space. There was nothing.

"This is the construct." Archer told her.

She whipped around surprised to see Archer who was now standing in front of her.

"It is our loading program. We can load anything from clothes, to weapons, to training simulations. Anything we need." Archer said.

He walked past her and when she turned she saw two red velvet chairs like the ones from the hotel set up in front of a large view screen with flashing lights.

"Sit down." Archer told her.

She stood at the back of her chair while Archer took his seat.

"Right now we are inside a computer program?" She asked him.

"Pretty wild, isn't it?"

T'Pol ran her hands over the soft velvet and shook her head.

"This is not real?" She asked as she looked at him.

Archer turned to the screen.

"Computer, show San Francisco circa 2166."

The screen showed San Francisco in the time she knew it.

"What is real? How do you define real? If you're talking about your senses, what you feel, what you taste, smell, or even see, then what you are talking about are the electrical signals that are sent to your brain."

They looked toward the screen showing present day San Francisco.

"This is the San Francisco that you know. San Francisco as it was in the middle of the 22nd century. This San Francisco only exists as a part of a neural-interactive simulation on a machine planet that we call the Matrix."

The screen started to change as he continued to speak.

"You have been living inside an illusion, inside the map, not the territory. This is the San Francisco that exists today."

She saw the sky as an endless sea of black and green bile. It was scortched and it smelled of burnt flesh. The scene spread out from the screen until they were both standing in the wasteland.

"This is the universe now." Archer said.

She looked and saw stars exploding, whole planets being destroyed until there was nothing left. All major cities on every planet in the Federation looked like blackened ribs from a long-dead corpse.

"We are right now, on breathable and liveable M-class planet miles away from earth. It is the only place were humanoids of every species can survive away from planet Matrix."

"T'Pol felt dizzy. She looked up at Archer.

"What happened?" She asked him.

"It happened in the mid 22nd century. Artificial intelligence was all over the galaxy. Finally they became a singular consciousness, that spawned an entire race of machines. Even the borg could not stop them in time."

She looked at his sunglasses and saw clouds forming.

"At first they wanted to be treated as equals, entitled to the same rights as any humaniod, Whatever they were given, it was not enough."

She continue to look at the reflection in his sunglasses as explosions erupted in the reflections.

"We don't know who struck first. Us or them. But sometime in the middle of the 22nd century, the battle was joined."

She continued to see the war in his shades as it unfolded.

"This war raged for generations and turned the face of galaxy from bright and hopeful to eternal darkness."

She then saw the sentinels in his glasses, they were octopus like machines that wiped out Borg, Romulans, Klingons, Andorians, Vulcans and even Orions. They didn't care what alien race their targets were. They were programmed to kill anything that even resembled a humaniod. Blood of all colors splattered across the field as she watched in horror.

"It scorched and burned our solar systems. Without the suns, the machines sought out a new energy source to survive." Archer said.

She continued to look at the scene in disbelief above her. She could not believe what she was seeing or even what she was hearing.

"They discovered a new form of fusion. All that is required to initiate the reaction was a small electric charge. Throughout history, every race in this galaxy has been dependant on machines to survive. Fate, it seems, is not without a sense of irony."

The scene changed to what looked like a field of cocoons. Every alien race that she could imagine was sleeping peacefully in their gelatin fill sleep chambers.

"An organic being can generate more bio-electricity than a warp core at full power which is equivalent to a 120 volt battery and over 25,000 B.T.U.s of body heat."

The scene now switched to where they were inside of the fields. She continued to look around in shock and in horror. She still could not believe her eyes.

"We are an energy source, easily renewable and completely recyclable, the dead liquified and fed to the living."

She continued to watch as the pods were being harvested like crops by the machines.

"All they needed to control this new battery was something to control the mind."

The scene changed to an alien fetus, it's skull was already growing a brain jack. T'Pol felt like she was going to be sick at the sight.

"So they built a prison out of our past, wired it to our brains and made us all slaves."

They were now back in the white room with only the chairs and the view screen. T'Pol shook her head.

"I do not believe it! It is not possible! It is not logical!"

"I didn't say it would be easy T'Pol. I just said it would be the truth."

T'Pol felt like a caged animal looking for a way out.

"Stop! Let me out! I want out!" She screamed.

She thrashed in her chair and her eyes snapped open, she was back on the bridge. She tried to rip the cable from the back of her neck.

"Get this thing out of me!" She screamed again.

"Easy, T'Pol! Easy!" Tripp said as he tried to console her.

Wesley held her down as Tripp unplugged her. She fell to the floor and tried to get away from the crew.

"Don't touch me! Get away from me!" She had sounded like a wounded animal as she screamed at them.

She was on her hands and knees the room spun around her. Sweat poured off of her as she leaned on all fours. Pressure built up inside of her skull like her head was about to explode.

"She's gonna pop." Hoshi said.

And then it happened, T'Pol lurched forward and threw up violently into the grating of the bridge and then she blacked out once more.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

T'Pol awoke a few hours later. The room was dark as was stretched out on her bed. Next to her, Archer was sitting in the shadows in a chair in the far corner of her quarters.

" I can't go back, can I?" She asked him.

"No. But if you could, would you really want to?"

Deep down, T'Pol already knew the answer. It was too late to go back now.

"I feel that I must owe you an apology. There is a rule that we don not set a mind free once it reaches a certain age. It is very dangerous. They have trouble letting go. Their mind, no matter how much mental training they have had, turns against them. I've seen it happen. I broke the rule because I had to." Archer explained.

He stared into the darkness as he spoke it was like he was confessing to himself more than he was to her.

"When planet Matrix was first colonized there was a woman born inside that had the ability to change and remake that world as she saw fit. It was this woman that freed the first of us and taught us the secret of the war. Control planet Matrix and you control the future.

Archer paused and then he spoke again.

"When she died, the Prophet predicted her return and envision an end to the war between out two planets and freedom for all life forms. That is why there are those of us that have spent our entire lives searching planet Matrix looking for her."

Through the dark she could feel Archer's eyes on her as he continued to speak.

"I did what I did because I believe the search is over."

Archer stood up.

"Now get some rest, you're going to need it."

"For what?" T'Pol asked.

"Your training." Archer answered.

Eight hours later the lights were turned on in her quarters. The door wooshed open and Wesley a young man with short dark hair in his early twenties stepped inside.

"Morning. Did you sleep?" He asked her.

"No." She answered.

"You will tonight. I guarantee it. I'm Wesley. I'll be your operator."

He offered his hand and T'Pol shook it. He noticed that he didn't have any jacks.

"You don't have ..."

"Any holes? Nope. Me and my mom Beverly, we are 100 percent pure, old fashioned home-grown organic life forms. Born free. Right here in the real galaxy. Genuine children of Zion."

"Zion?"

"If this war ended tomorrow, planet Zion is where the party would be."

"It's a planet?"

"Yes the last M-class planet in the galaxy and the only place we have left." Wesley said.

"Where is it?" T'Pol asked.

"About twenty light years away near the only sun that is left in the star system. The climate is warm. You live long enough, you might even see it."

Wesley smiled at her.

"Goddamn, I gotta tell you, I'm fairly excited to see what you are capable of. I mean if Archer is right and all. We're not supposed to talk about any of that right now. But if you are, well then this is an exciting time. We got a lot to do, so let's get to it."

A few moments later they were in engineering. T'Pol was already plugged into her chair and Wesley was shuffling through several data disks.

"We're supposed to load all these operations programs first, but this is some seriously boring shit. Why don't we start with something a little more fun."

Wesley smiled as he sat down in the operator's chair. He began flipping through a carousel of small data disks

"How about some combat training?" Wesley said as he pulled out a random disk and handed it to T'Pol. She read the label.

"Bat'leth? I'm going to learn the Bat'leth?"

Wesley took the disk and slid it into the drive with a grin.

"No way." She said.

Wesley punched in the load code. Her body jerked against the harness as her eyes clamped shut. The monitors kicked wildly as her heart pounded and adrenaline surged through her, she could hear her brain sizzling. An instant later her eyes snapped open.

"Holy shit!" She sounded like she was out of breath.

"Hey Mikey, she likes it! Ready for more?" Wesley asked.

"Hell yeah." T'Pol answered.

Several hours later, Archer walked into engineering to check her progress. Wesley was watching the screen and monitoring her progress as the programs downloaded into her brain. Fighting styles such as Kung Fu, Jujitsu, Klingon Karate and even Drunken Boxing were being processed into her brain.

"How is she doing?" Archer asked him.

"Twelve hours straight, the woman is a machine." Wesley told him.

T'Pol's body spasmed and then relaxed as her eyes opened. A single breath escaped her lips and the look on her face looked as if she had an intense orgasm.

"This is incredible. I know Klingon Bat'leth fighting."

"Show me." Archer told her.

A few seconds later they were in a dark room which looked like a battle arena. Both were dressed in Klingon battle armour and each had a Bat'leth of equal weight and size.

"This is a sparring program, similar to the programmed reality of planet Matrix. It has the same basic rules. Rules like gravity. What you must learn is that these rules are no different than the rules of a computer system. Some of them can be bent. Others can be broken."

Archer assumed a fighting stance as he turned his Bat'leth.

"Attack me." He ordered.

T'Pol assumed a similar position circling Archer cautiously until she gave a short cry and lunged at him with her weapon. He blocked her every move, he was no match for her.

On the other side in engineering both T'Pol and Archer seemed serene in their chairs as they were jacked in. Wesley monitored their life systems. He noticed that T'Pol was wildly lit up and it was a constrast compared to the slow steady rhythms of Archer.

A few moments later, a young red-headed girl by the name of Dawn busted into the mess hall interrupting the crews' dinner.

"T'Pol is fighting Archer!" Dawn said with an excited tone in her voice.

All at once everyone bolted for engineering.

Back in the arena, T'Pol's teeth were clenched, she hurled herself at Archer.

"Good. Adaptation. Improvisation. But your weakness isn't your technique." Archer told her.

Archer attacked her at lightening speed. His Bat'leth was a blur as he backed her up and then with one blow she was sent flying. She was on her hands and knees, she spit green blood from her mouth, speckling the white floor of the arena.

"How did I beat you?" Archer asked.

"You're way too fast." T'Pol answered.

"Do you think my being faster, stronger has anything to do with muscles in this place?"

T'Pol was getting frustrated by him.

"Do you believe that's air you're breathing now?" Archer asked her again.

She nodded as she stood slowly.

"Again." He said.

This time both their Bat'leths flew at blinding speed. Everyone was gathered behind Wesley watching the fight. It was like watching a game of Mortal Combat.

"Jesus Christ! That vulcan chick is fast!" Dawn said.

Back inside the arena, Archer cracked T'Pol in the face with his weapon over and over again.

"Come on T'Pol. What are you waiting for? You are faster than this. Don't think you are. Know you are!" Archer yelled.

She advanced, but he blocked every single move she made.

"Come on! Stop trying to knock me down and just knock me down already!"

T'Pol face twisted with rage as she let out a battle cry. She blocked his weapon and knocked him down pointing the Bat'leth at his head. In engineering there were several collective gasps from the crew.

"I don't fucking believe it." Dawn sais as she shook her head.

Back in the arena, Archer looked up at T'Pol and smiled.

"I know what you are trying to." She told him.

"I'm trying to free your mind T'Pol, but all I can do is show you the door. You are the one that has to step through. Wesley, load the jump program." Archer ordered.

The scene instantly changed to a rooftop in San Francisco

"Let it all go T'Pol. Fear. Doubt. Disbelief. Free your mind."

Archer spun running hard at the edge of the rooftop. He jumped. He sailed through the air with his long coat billowing behind him as he landed on the rooftop across the steet.

"Shit." T'Pol said to herself.

She looked down at the street below which was twenty floors down and then she looked at Archer who was a hundred feet away.

"Ok. Free my mind. Right. No problem." She said out loud to herself.

She took a deep breath and started to run. Meanwhile in engineering the rest of the crew was transfixed on the screen.

"She's gonna make it." Malcolm said.

"No way. Not possible." Travis said as he shook his head.

"No one's ever made their first jump." Dawn said.

"What if she does?" Malcolm asked.

"She won't." Travis told him.

Tripp stared at the screen with his fists clenched.

"Come on." He whispered.

On the rooftop, T'Pol summoned ever one of strength she had in her legs, she launched herself into the air with a mechanical shriek she was flying through the air and just like in a Wyle E. Coyote cartoon she stopped drastically short. Her eyes started to widen as she plummeted to the ground. Stories flew by as she continued to fall and then she hit the ground, but instead of falling flat the ground stretched like a trapeze net making her whole body bounce and then she was flat on her back. She slowly got up and was amazed that she was still alive. A few moments later, Archer walked up to her and helped her onto her feet.

"Do you know why you didn't make it?" He asked.

"Because ... I did not think I would." She answered.

Archer smiled and nodded at her.

In engineering the crew slowly disappeared.

"What does it mean?" Dawn asked.

"It doesn't mean anything." Malcolm said.

"Everyone falls the first time. Right Tripp?" Hoshi said.

By this time Tripp had already left the room.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

T'Pol's eyes opened as Wesley eased the plug out of her neck. She tried to move. She groaned in pain holding her ribs. After she was unplugged Wesley walked over to Archer and unplugged him as well. She felt a pain in her mouth, she held her hand over mouth and spit out. She noticed she was bleeding from the green tone in the saliva.

"I thought it wasn't real." She said.

"Your mind makes it real." Archer told her.

She stared at the blood in her hand.

"If you are killed on Matrix, you die here?" T'Pol asked.

"The body cannot live without the mind."

A few hours later Tripp walked down to the hall to T'Pol's quarters carrying a plate of food. He entered her quarters.

"T'Pol, I saved you some dinner."

He noticed she was asleep and so he set the tray down and pulled the covers over her. He paused as his face was close to hers, he inhaled lightly, taking in the scent of her before slowly pulling away. He stepped out of her room and turned the corner only to find Hoshi watching him.

"I don't remember you ever bringing me dinner." She said.

Tripp was silent.

"There's something about her, isn't there?"

"Don't tell me you're a believer now?" Tripp said.

"I just keep wondering when Archer is so sure, why doesn't he just take her to the Prophet? He would know."

"Archer will take her when she's ready." Tripp told her.

He turned and walked away as she continued to watch him.

The very next day Archer and T'pol were in a crowded sidewalk on in a simulation of 22nd century downtown. They walked through Borg, Bolians, Bajorans, Ferengi, Vulcans, Romulans, every race in the known galaxy all dressed in business suits that were on their way to and from places. Archer walked through the crowd with ease but T'Pol had trouble keeping us as people slammed into her showing no regard for her presence.

"This is a Matrix simulation. A training program to help you get your sea legs and teach you one very important lesson." Archer said.

"What lesson?" T'Pol asked as she collided with a woman who looked like her old boss Mrs. Troi.

"Planet Matrix is a system T'Pol, and the system is our enemy. When you look around, what do you see? Starfleet officers, lawyers, cadets, doctors. People. Everywhere you look there are people. Somewhere else, somewhere in the future they may be organic beings like you and I but here these people are a part of the system. Tha makes every one of them our enemy."

As Archer spoke, T'pol observed the crowd around her and she could not help but notice one very attractive human male with dark hair, dressed in a black Armani suit with matching tie and a silver tie clip. He took off his dark sunglasses revealing his deep blue eyes as smiled at her when he walked by.

"It is important to understand that if you are not of us, you are one of them." Archer said.

Archer stopped as he turned to her. She was still looking at the attractive human male with the blue eyes.

"Do you understand T'Pol?" Archer asked.

"I think I do." T'Pol answered as she still stared at the man.

"No you don't don't. Did you see the man in the black Armani suit?"

"Yes."

"Look again." He told her.

T'Pol turned and was met face to face with the same human red haired female in the same dark suit and matching sunglasses that interrogated her before. Only this time she was pointing a hand phaser at her head. T'Pol quickly ducked.

"Freeze program." Archer ordered.

Everything and everyone around them froze including the crowd and the woman holding the hand phaser. They were the only ones moving.

"The agents are sentient programs. They can enter any software that is hardwired to the system, they can become anyone who is still a captive to their world. If this planet is a prison, then the agents are it's wardens and if all beings in the galaxy are to survive they first must be stopped." Archer said.

"How?"

"I've seen an agent punch through a concrete wall. Many beings both alien and human have emptied their phasers and have hit nothing but air. Yet as powerful as they are, their speed and strength are tethers to the rules of a very unreal universe. Because of this, they will never be as strong or as fast as you can be."

T'Pol scratched her head and tried to comprehend what Archer was telling her.

"What? Are you trying to tell me that I can dodge phaser fire?"

"No T'Pol, I'm trying to tell you, when you're ready you won't have to."

Archers communicator went off. He took it out of his pocket and flipped it open. It was Beverly.

"We got trouble." She said.

A few moments later they were out of the simulation and were headed to the bridge. Archer took a seat in the captain's chair.

"How much time do we have Beverly?" He asked.

"I estimate we will be withing range of detection in about two minutes sir." She told him.

Archer scanned the decay of a small moon, he pointed to the cavern on the viewscreen.

"Set it down in there." He ordered.

"What's going on?" T'Pol asked.

"A squid tripped one of our distance alarm probes." Beverly said.

"What?" T'Pol was trying to comprehend what was going on around her at the moment.

"A sentinel, it's a killing machine designed for one thing." Tripp said.

"Search and destroy." Beverly said.

She felt the ship rock from side to side as it tried to land on the moon's surface. Archer was sitting in his chair and got on the intercom.

"How are we doing Wesley?"

In engineering Wesley was working furiously at the operator's station. He was flipping a series of handles until everything on the ship was plunged into a dark silence. Wesley whispered over the com to Archer.

"Power off-line. E.M.P. armed and ready."

Wesley's finger was on a button that glowed a dim red.

Back on the bridge the rest f the crew held their breaht for what seemed like an eternity.

"E.M.P. An electromagnetic pulse." T'Pol said.

"It disables any electrical system in a blast radius. It's the only weapon we have against the machines." Tripp said.

On the view screen they saw the squid-like machines coming at them. T'Pol tried to angle around but Archer grabbed her.

"Don't move, they will hear you." He said.

She froze. The temperature throughout the whole ship started to drop rapidly. The crew huddled together as their breath froze and the colder it got the cloud of breath only got thicker. In engineering, Wesley wiped the frost away, finally he saw it too on his view screen. It was a shadow of mechanized death. It was beautiful yet terrifying all at the same time. As T'Pol saw the sight, the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end as the metallic squid floated over the ship like a shark in deep waters circling it's prey. Finally Wesley pushed the button and the metallic monster floated away making everyone on the ship breathe much easier.

A few hours later everyone had gone to bed. T"pol couldn't sleep and so she headed to the bridge where Hoshi was sitting there and watching the computer screen. She cam e up behind her, making her jump.

"Whoa shit! T'Pol you scare the beejezus outta me." She said as she held her chest.

"Sorry."

"No, it's okay." Hoshi told her.

T'Pol looked at the screen.

"So what are you doing?" She asked.

"Midnight watch." She answered.

T'Pol's eyes came alive as the screens seem to come alive with constant flows of data.

"Is that?"

"Planet Matrix. Yeah." Hoshi answered.

T'Pol stared at the constant flow of information. Bizarrre codes and equations flowed on the screen.

"Do you always look at it encoded?" T'Pol asked her.

"I have to. The image translators sort of work for the construct programs but there's way too much information to decode this planet. You get used to it though. Your brain does the translating. Hell, I don't even see the code. All I see is a vulcan, human, and a klingon hottie. Say, uh, you want a drink?" Hoshi asked her.

T'Pol nodded. Hoshi took out a plastic jug and poured what looked like clear alcohol into her cup and did the same for herself.

"You know, I know what you're thinking because right now I'm thinking the same thing. Actually to tell you the truth, I have been thinking the same damn thing since I got here." Hoshi said.

She raised her glass.

"Why the fuck didn't I take that blue pill when I had a chance?"

And then she took the glass to her mouth and chugged it. T'Pol did the same but the potency of the alcohol almost killed her as she choked. Hoshi slapped her back.

"Good shit huh?" She said with a smile. "Beverly makes it. It's good for two things: de greasing engines and killing brain cells.

T'Pol was green in the face until she finally stopped coughing. Hoshi poured her another.

"Can I ask you something? Did he tell you why he did it?" Hoshi asked.

She looked up at Hoshi unsure.

"Why you're here?" She continued to ask.

"Yeah." T'Pol.

Hoshi let out a small chuckle as she took another swig.

"Jesus christ! What a mindfuck. You're here to save the universe. You gotta be shittin' me. What do you say to something like that?"

T'Pol set down her drink and not saying a word. Hoshi leaned in close to her as she continued to speak.

"Listen girlfriend, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Now don't tell him I told you this, but his ain't the first time Archer has thought he has found The One."

"Really?"

"You bet your sweet ass. It keeps him going. Maybe it keeps all of us going."

"How many were there?" T'Pol asked her.

Hoshi let out a deep sigh and leaned back in her chair.

"Five. Since I've been here." Hoshi answered.

"What happened to them?"

"They all died."

"How?"

"Honestly. Archer. He got them all pumped up and made them believe in this bullshit. I watched each of them take on an agent and I watched each of them die. Little piece of advice chica: you see an agent, you do as we do. You run your fucking ass off."

T'Pol took another swig as Hoshi continued to speak.

"Look girl, I'm not trying to scare you, I just want to help and I'm not going to bullshit you. See, this is the real galaxy and the real galaxy ain't about heroes and miracles. This galaxy is about one thing: survival, that's all there is."

T'Pol threw back her final shot.

"Thanks ... for the drink." She said.

"Anytime." Hoshi said.

T'Pol headed back to her quarters, she stepped into the turbo lift but before the doors closed behind her, Hoshi said one more thing to her.

"Sweet dreams."


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

The very next day the crew was in the mess hall eating their breakfast. What was being served looked like a substance of yogurt and rice pudding. Wesley handed T'Pol a bowl of the white goopy stuff.

"Here you go, over easy right?" He said jokingly.

He took a seat with the other members of the crew and a few moments later she joined them. In a way she couldn't help but feel like the new kid on her first day of school. She poked at her food trying to figure out what it was.

"Breakfast of champions, T'Pol." Malcolm said.

"What is it?" She asked.

"It's single celled protein. We process it in a huge vat that's attached to the ship." Wesley told her.

The substance jiggled in her bowl until it came to a stop. She didn't know what to think.

"It's not so bad, long as you don't think about liposuction." Dawn said.

T'Pol decided to try it, it tasted bland but what could she do about it? It was food. Archer entered the mess hall.

"I want everyone on a twelve-hour stand by. We're going in. I'm taking T'Pol to see him." Archer said.

And then he turned and left the mess hall. T'Pol now wondered who else she now needed to see.

"See who?" She asked.

"The Prophet." Wesley explained.

Dawn nudged T'Pol.

"So I understand you were starting your training with Archer."

"Yes."

"So what did you think of him?" Dawn asked with a wink.

"Who?"

"You know the hottie in the black Armani suit? I programmed him myself you know."

"Really?"

"Yeah his name is Smith. You know if you ever need any special attention, if you know what I mean, I can hook you up. And he's a way better toy that doesn't require AA batteries." Dawn told her with a grin like a cheshire cat.

Malcolm and Travis rolled their eyes.

"Dawn the cyber-madame. Don't you ever quit?" Malcolm said.

"Jealous?" Dawn asked him.

"Oh baby, why would we be jealous of a virtual man?" Travis chimed in.

"Well at least my virtual man doesn't come up short like some guys on this ship that I know." Dawn said with a sarcastic smile.

Both Travis and Malcolm fell silent and excused themselves from the table.

"Yeah just as I thought." Dawn said with a sound of satisfaction in her voice as they left the mess hall.

On the bridge Archer sent Hoshi in first to be a lookout. Once she was inside, she made her way to street side café. She took a seat and ordered a mocha, a few moments later three women a human, a klingon and a borg in dark suits entered and spotted her, instead of running she stayed in her seat as they calmly walked towards her.

"Miss Sato, I presume." Said the human female.

"Yes." Hoshi answered.

"I believe you have something for us." Said the human female.

"Yes, I do." She answered.

The three women took their seats across from her.

"Can you give us the codes to your home world's defense system?"

"No, I don't but I can give you something else that is of value." Hoshi told her with a gleam in her eye.

"And what is that?" The human woman asked.

"The captain of the Enterprise." Hoshi answered.

"And what do you want in return?" The woman asked.

"To be put back into the plant. And this time I want to be someone important ... like a supermodel ... with lots of money ... and really hot boyfriend." Hoshi told her.

"Well then Miss Sato, do we have a deal?" She asked.

Hoshi lit up a cigarette and took a long drag and then she took a sip of her mocha.

"You know the thing is I can taste this cigarette and it tastes so good, especially since I can't smoke it in the real world. And I know this coffee isn't real either."

She took another drag.

"But you know what they say, ignorance is bliss." She answered with a smile.

It was then the three women knew that the deal was sealed just by Hoshi's words.

A few hours later Archer and the rest of the crew were inside Hoshi met them outside. The door opened and T'Pol squinted her eyes since she was the only one not wearing sunglasses. Archer flipped open his communicator.

"We should be back in about an hour." Archer said.

Hoshi walked alongside of the group and when no one was looking, she dropped her communicator into a nearby trash can. They got into an SUV hovercraft and were now on their way to see the Prophet. T'Pol looked out the window as she passed by all to places that she used to hang out before she became unplugged.

"Almost unbelievable isn't it?" Archer asked.

T'Pol nodded as the SUV glided through the busy city

"God ..." T'Pol said.

"What?" Tripp asked.

"I used to eat there ... really good Klingon cuisine." She answered.

It was like she was speaking to herself almost in a whisper.

"I have these memories, from my entire life but ... none of them really happened." She said.

She turned to Tripp.

"What does that mean?"

"This planet cannot tell you who you are." Tripp told her.

"But the Prophet can."

"That's different." Tripp said.

"It is?"

"Are you worried?" He asked her.

"Should I be?"

"No." Tripp reassured her.

She turned to the window for a moment and then turned to Tripp again.

"Did you go to him?" She asked.

"Yes."

"And what did he tell you?"

"He told me ..."

And then suddenly he stopped speaking like he was unable to breathe for a second.

"What?"

The SUV jerked to a stop.

"We're here. T'Pol, come with me." Archer said.

Both T'Pol and Archer stepped out of the car. Hoshi looked out of the rearview mirror at Tripp.

"Here we go again huh, Tripp?"

She smiled at him as he turned to look out the window.

A few moments later both T'Pol and Archer were in the hallway of the old building. Archer nodded to a blind woman and she nodded back. The whole idea of learning her own fate weighed very heavily on her as they made their way to the ancient looking, turbo lift. The doors opened as T'Pol stepped inside with Archer following behind her. The higher the turbolift went the more uneasy she was feeling about the whole visit.

"So this is the same Prophet who made the prophecy?" T'Pol asked.

"Yes, he is very old. He's been with us since the beginning." Archer said.

"The beginning?"

"Of the resistance."

"And he knows what? Everything?"

"He would say he knows enough."

"How does he know?"

"He is a true psychic. He sees beyond the relativity of time. For him there is no present, past or future. There is only what is."

"And he's never wrong."

"Don't think of it in terms of right or wrong. He is a guide T'Pol. He can help you find the path."

"He helped you?"

"Yes."

"And what did he tell you?"

"That I would find the one." He answered with a smile.

Finally the turbolift door opened. And they stepped into a long dark hall. He followed him out of the turbolift as the doors rattled shut behind them. With every step a growing sense of dread was taking over her whole being. They reached the end of the hall and Archer stepped to the side of the door.

"I told you that I can only show you the door. You have to step through it." Archer said.

T'Pol toook a deep breath as she reached for the door handle, she hesitated.

"Archer, I don't think this is a very good idea."

"Why?"

"I told you, I don't believe in this stuff. No matter what he says, I'm not going to believe it, so what is the point?"

"What do you believe in?" Archer asked her.

"What do I believe? Are you kidding me? What do you think? I'm still trying to deal with the fact that everything I believed in was real, wasn't. The whole universe, my entire life was a lie. I don't know anything anymore, Archer."

"That is why we are here."

"Why? So I can hear some old man tell me what? That I'm this woman that everyone is waiting for? The one that is supposed to save the galaxy? Come on. How do in the hell do I respond to that? I can't. It's illogical. I mean who am I? I'm nobody, I'm just a woman. What did I do Archer? Why me?"

"Faith is beyond the reach of whys and why nots. These things are not a matter of cause and effect. T'Pol. I do not believe these thing with my mind. I believe them with my heart and my gut."

"And you still believe I'm The One."

Archer smiled at her.

"Yes I do."

T'Pol looked a little angry as she continued to speak.

"Yeah? Well what about the other five women before me? What about them?" She asked.

Archer felt like his heart was about to be ripped out of his chest when she asked him that.

"Did you believe in them too?" She asked.

Archer was silent for a moment and then he answered.

"No. I did not. I have never told anyone this, T'Pol. After I saw the Prophet I thought ... no, I misunderstood what he told me. I believed it was all about me. That I would find The One, not that she would find me."

It was difficult for him admit that to her at that moment.

"I believed that all I had to do was point my finger and anoint whoever I chose. I was wrong. T'Pol. Terribly wrong. And not a night or day goes by that I do not think about them. After the fifth, I lost my way. I doubted everything The Prophet said. I doubted myself."

He took off his sunglasses and looked into her eyes.

"And then I saw you on the net, searching for me and everything changed. I felt this charge, this electricity running through my body. I started laughing and tears poured out of my eyes, because I knew, I knew that you were The One."

His eyes blazed as he continued to speak.

"Listen to me, T'Pol. I know that you are afraid to go through that door. You can't get free of the thinking that I could be wrong. You must believe me. There is a greatness inside of you, T'Pol. A greatness that is going to lift you to unimaginable heights and that in time will change the universe."

"Archer, I don't know..."

"I know that is why it is important for you to go. Please, T'Pol, I'm asking to find whatever respectr you may have for me and trust me."

There was a desperation in his eyes. T'Pol nodded.

"Alright."

She reached for the handle and the door opened without him touching it. Standing before her, was a middle agedasian man with dark hair dressed all in white.

"Hello T'Pol you are right on time." He said with a smile.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Both Archer and T'Pol stepped inside of the apartment. Everything seemed perfectly normal. The asain man turned to Archer.

"Feel free to make yourself at home Jonathan."

Archer nodded.

"Thank you." He said as he took his seat.

The man looked to her.

"T'Pol come with me."

He led her down a hall into what appeared to be some sort of day care center. In the middle there was another man dressed in white sitting on the couch watching MTV. She also noticed that there were children of every alien race in every part of the room. In one corner she saw Bolian and Orion children finger painting. In another corner she saw Klingon and Romulan children playing chess. In another corner she saw Bajoran and Cardassian children levitating blocks with their minds, but no matter what they were doing all of the children were in a Zen calm and there was no conflict. All of the children played peacefully.

"These are the other potentials." The man said. "You can wait here."

She nodded as he made his exit. Out of the corner of her eye she spotted a Deltan girl no older than eight years old holding a spoon in her hand. It looked like it had a life of it's on as moved. Sitting in front of the child was a pile of already bent spoons. T'Pol slowly walked up to the little girl and bent down to her level. The little bald girl smiled and handed her a spoon that was perfectly straight.

"Do not try to bend the spoon. That is impossible. Instead only try to realize the truth." The little girl said in tone that was wise beyond her years.

She raised an eyebrow at the child.

"What truth." T'Pol asked her.

The child continued to look into her eyes.

"That there is no spoon." The child said.

She nodded and just stared at the spoon in her hand at her own reflection.

"There is no spoon." T'Pol said.

"You will see that it is not the spoon that bends. It is only yourself." The little girl said.

T'Pol looked into the reflection of the spoon and then it started to bend. Just then a hand touched her shoulder making her jump a little. It was the asian man in white.

"The Prophet will see you now." He said.

The little girl smiled at her as she handed her back the spoon and got up. She was escorted to what looked like a kitchen. An elderly gentleman was huddled beside the oven as he peered inside a cracked door. She looked at the man for a moment.

"Hello?"

He raised a hand as he looked over his shoulder at her.

"I know lass. You're T'Pol. Be right with ya." He answered in his thick scottish accent.

"You're the Prophet?"

"Bingo. Not quite what you were expectin', right? I got to say I love seein' ya non-believers. Always entertainin'."

He took one last look into the oven as he took a deep whiff.

"Almost done. Smell good, don't they."

"Yes." She answered.

"I'd be askin' ya to sit down, but you're not gonna anyway. And don't worry yer pretty 'lil head about the cookie jar."

"What cookie jar?"

She quickly turned and her elbow knocked off a ceramic cookie jar from the table. It broke into several pieces on the linoleum floor.

"That cookie jar." The Prophet said.

"Oh shit, I'm very sorry." She felt embarrassed.

The old scotsman took out a tray of cookies and set them on the top the counter. He turned and she could see he was an older man wearing big oven mitts, a kilt, and a red button shirt. His hair was gray and he had a mustache. He looked like he could be someone's grandfather.

"I said don't worry 'bout it. I'll just get one o' me kids to fix it." He said with a warm smile.

"How did you know ...?"

He took off his oven mitts and set them on the counter.

"What's really goin' to bake yer noodle later is, would ya stil 'ave broken it if I 'adn't said anythin'?"

He poured a small glass of brandy and took a sip.

"Yer a lot prettier than I thought. I can see why he likes 'ya."

"Who?"

"Oh lordy, fer a vulcan, yer not too bright though."

He gave her a wink.

"So? What do ya think? Ya think yer The One darlin'?" He asked her.

"Honestly, I really don't know." She answered.

He pointed to a wooden plaque that hung above the kitchen door, it was in ancient latin.

"Ya know what that means? It's latin. Means 'Know Thyself'. I'm gonna let ya in on a little secret. Bein' The One is just like bein' in love. Nobody can tell ya yer in love. Ya just know it. Through and through. From balls to bones." He said.

He put his brandy down and walked towards her.

"Well I better have a look at ya."

He widened her eyes and checked her pointed ears and then he felt the glands in her neck.

"Open yer mouth and say 'ahhh'."

T'Pol did as she was told. And then old man took her palms in his hands and looked them over as he nodded.

"Okay, now I'm supposed to say, 'Hmmm, that's interestin' but ...' Then ya say..."

"But what?"

"But ya already know what I'm gonna tell ya."

"That I'm not The One."

"Sorry darlin'. Ya got the gift, but it looks like yer waitin' fer somethin'."

"What?"

"Yer next life, maybe. Who knows. That's how these things go."

T'Pol almost had to laugh.

"What's so funny?" The Prophet asked.

"Archer. He almost had me convinced."

"I know lass. Poor Archer. Without him we are lost. We will never find The One."

"What do you mean without him?

The Prophet took another swig of his brandy and looked at her with eyes of a sphnix as he continued to speak.

"Are ya sure ya wanna hear this?"

She nodded.

"Archer believes in ya, T'Pol and no one, not you or even me could convince 'im otherwise. He believes it so damned blindly that he's gonna sacrifice his life to save yours." The old man told her sadly.

"What?" T'Pol was concerned.

"Yer gonna have to make a final choice. In one hand you will have Archer's life. In the other hand you will have yer own. One of you is goin' to die. Which one, will be up to you."

She felt as if she couldn't breathe at the moment. His words were like a blow to her chest that knocked the wind out of her.

"I'm sorry darlin', I really am. Ya got a good soul and I hate givin' good people bad news. But don't worry, as soon as ya walk outside that door, you'll start feelin' better. You'll remember that ya don't believe in any of this fate crap. Yer in control of yer own life, remember?"

He took a cookie off the tray it was still warm as he handed it to her.

"Here, take a cookie, I promise by the time you're done eatin' it, you'll feel right as rain." He said with another warm smile.

She took the cookie from and slowly the tightness in her chest began to fade. She made her way back the room where Archer was waiting for her. He stood up and put his hand on her shoulder.

"There is a rule that no one can ask what The Prophet said to you. What was said is for you and you alone." Archer told her.

He smiled at her.

"I can see it in your eyes, that you are still confused. That's all right, T'Pol. Give it time, let it all sink in. I know it can be difficult to see the path even when it's right under your feet."

She nodded and took a bite of her cookie. They got into the SUV and Hoshi slapped it into gear as they pulled into traffic.

"Are you all right?" Tripp asked her.

He looked at him.

"Right as rain ..." She answered.

They reached the building where they first entered the matrix and Dawn was sitting there in a black suit dark shades reading what looked to be a Playgirl magazine with Smith on the cover giving a come hither look. She was looking at the centerfold which read:

_To: Dawn_

_Love: Smith oxoxox_

She really into looking at the pictures until the crew came through the door. Hoshi pulled the SUV into the garage as se nervously looked around. They made their way to an exit until T'Pol noticed something strange. She saw a small targ running down the hall and few moments later the same small targ ran in the same direction.

"I'm experiencing a strange sense of deja' vu." T'Pol.

Back in engineering, Wesley was looking at the screens and it didn't look good.

"Oh shit! Oh shit!" Wesley cursed.

Back in the matrix, Tripp turned around, his jaw was clenched.

"What did you just say?" He asked.

"Nothing, I was just saying was having a little sense of deja' vu." T'Pol said.

"What happened? What did you see?" Tripp asked her.

"A small targ went past us and then I saw another that looked just like it." She told him.

"How much like it? Was it the same targ?"

"It might have been. I'm not sure."

Tripp looked quietly at Archer who listened quietly to the rasping breath of the old building.

"What is it?" T'Pol asked.

"Deja' vu is usually a glitch on this world. It happens when they change something." Tripp explained.

They listened as the sound of helicopter wings grew louder and louder.

Back in engineering Wesley was working frantically to get the crew out. And then he saw what had changed.

"It's a trap!" Wesley yelled.

Archer looked up the stairs.

"Come on!" He yelled.

Dawn's communicator went off, it was Wesley

"They cut the hardline! It's a trap! Get out!"

"Oh my god!"

She opened the curtains and they were all bricked up, they were trapped.

"You guys get out of her!" She told them. "I'll hold them off!"

"Dawn no!" Archer shouted.

"Just go!" She shouted.

The group left the room as she took out her phaser rifle and opened fire on Federation police officers

Back in engineering Wesley watched helplessly as she was shot to death and laying in pool of her own blood. He shook his head as he watched the carnage unfold.

"No, no, no, no! Dammit!" He said as he pounded the board.

And then Dawn flat lined she was now dead.

The crew was running for their lives and all Wesley could do was watch helplessly.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

More police arrived as lobby doors were being rammed in. The group kept running hearing police right on their tail. They tried to look for an exit but everywhere they turned, all windows were covered with bricks!

"There's no way out! We're trapped!" Hoshi yelled

The footsteps got louder.

"Give your communicator!" Archer told Tripp.

"They'll be able track it!" Trip said.

"We have no choice! Give me your communicator ... now!" Archer ordered.

He handed it over he flipped it open.

"Wesley, find a structural drawing of this building and find it fast!"

Meanwhile the offices searched every floor of the building, flashlights probed the darkness as they continued their search.

"Got it!" Wesley answered on the other end.

"I need the main wet wall!" Archer told him.

Not too far away. The human female agent paused, touching her hand to her com badge.

In engineering, Wesley guided the group out as best as he could.

"Now left and that is what's in front of you." Wesley told him.

"Good." Archer responded.

Not too far away the agent heard the line click dead.

"They are on the eighth floor." The woman told the officers calmly.

Officers flooded the eighth floor, rushing everywhere. Several of them swept through the room. It was empty. As they passed through the bathroom, they saw a man sized hole smashed through the plaster and tile..

Meanwhile the group was inside the wall, slowly worming their way down the greasy pipes. Above them a light filled the hole they made to get inside.

The borg turned the human.

"Where are they?" The borg asked her.

The officers continued to search in silence, straining for a clue, then a noise came from the direction of the bathroom.

Hoshi on the other hand, found another way out of the building she just stood there and watched as the drama unfolded.

Back in the bathroom, an officer leaned in, his ear was almost against the thin membrane of plaster and tile, that separated them from the crew. He heard whispers, a grunt and even hisses. Suddenly the wall bulged.

"They're in the wall!" The officer shouted.

And then phaser fire pierced the wall like swords into a box as little points of light appeared, nearly missing them.

"FUCK!" T'Pol said as she dodged phaser fire.

"It's an agent!" Tripp shouted.

T'Pol's throat felt as if it was going to collapse and without warning Archer exploded through the plaster, diving on top of the human female. They both crashed to the floor. Before she could draw her phaser, he was pinning her with an iron grip. He had knocked her glasses off.

"Archer!" Tripp yelled.

Archer squeezed the human female's throat.

T'Pol glimpsed at what was happening before her and felt powerless to stop it. Archer looked over at them both.

"Tripp, you must get T'Pol out! Do you understand? She is all that matters now!" He shouted as he still pinned the agent to the floor.

"No, no Archer don't!" Tripp protested.

"Tripp! Go! Get to the basement! Find the catch basin!" Archer ordered.

Behind her crooked sunglasses the woman smiled.

"The sewers. Of course." She said to herself as she was still being pinned down.

"Hurry!" Archer shouted.

"They won't make it." The woman smirked at him.

Tripp's fists balled in frustration. He yelled down to Malcolm.

"Go!" He ordered.

"We can't leave him!" T'Pol protested.

"We have to!" Trip said.

He grabbed her ankle and they began almost falling, using the pipe as a brake, skidding down inside the wall until finally they reached the basement below. Malcolm was he first to smash through a wall of dirt.

"Come on!" Tripp ordered.

Archer and the woman remained on the ground, locked in each other's death grip.

"The great Captain Archer. We meet at last." She said in her mechanical tone.

"And you are?" Archer asked through gritted teeth.

"Janeway. Agent Janeway." She answered with no emotion.

"You all look the same to me." He scowled.

And then Agent Janeway countered Archer, slowly prying his hands from her neck. Archer struck like a viper, head butting her. His nose and his glasses shattered on impact. With one hand she lifted him off of her and stood him up. He tried throwing several punches, she didn't even bleed. With each he threw she continued to throw him around like a rag doll around the bathroom. He tried to escape but was met by a wall of men.

"Take him." She ordered.

And no less than a second later a swarm of men surrounded Archer and started beating him with their batons until he was knocked sensless.

Back in engineering, tears streamed down Wesley's face as he watched the scene unfold before him.

"No!" He cried

Back in the matrix both the borg and klingon were standing outside the building.

"We have them now." The klingon told the borg.

A few blocks away, a manhole cover cracked open. Two eyes peeked out just as a hover truck rattled over it. Finally the hover craft pulled away and the cover opened all the way.

"We need a communicator." Tripp said.

Wesley was at the monitor searching the planet from top to bottom. He and Beverly were trying to find them a way out.

"We gotta find them. They're still alive!" Wesley said.

Finally a transmission came in. Beverly answered.

"Operator." She answered.

"Hoshi?"

Hoshi was standing at a public phone sounding panicked, she was across the street from a burning building.

"There was an accident! A fucking hover car accident! All of a sudden, BAM! Jesus Christ!" She sounded like she was almost in tears.

"Don't worry! We got you!" Beverly told her.

"Just got me the fuck outta here!" Hoshi said.

Wesley got on the line.

"Okay the nearest exit is at Burnside and Broadway. An old bar."

"Got it!"

Hoshi hung up the phone and an evil smile crossed her face as she walked calmly to the exit.

Back in engineering another transmission came in. Wesley answered.

"Operator."

"Wesley, it's me!" It was Tripp.

They were outside of the old building. Tripp had his communicator in hand.

"Is Archer still alive?" T'Pol asked.

Tripp spoke into the communicator. "Is Archer still alive Wesley?"

"Yes. They're moving him. I don't know where yet." Wesley answered.

"He's alive. We need an exit." Tripp said.

"You're not too far from Hoshi." Wesley said.

"How did Hoshi get away?" Tripp asked.

"I have no idea. I sent her to Burnside and Broadway."

"Got'cha!"

With that Tripp flipped his communicator closed and they reached the old building. Once inside they were surrounded by dust. It was empty and the furniture almost looked like bodies in a morgue. Deep in a back room a phone that had not rung in a hundred years started to ring. Hoshi was already there as the group made their way to the room.

"See ya on the other side." Hosi said.

She picked up the receiver and disappeared in cloud of sparkling light. Back in the real world her body twitched in it's harness and she opened he eyes.

"Got her." Wesley said.

When Wesley wasn't looking Hoshi uncovered a phaser rifle from underneath a blanket that was carefully hidden underneath her chair.

"God I love that sound." Malcolm said.

Back in engineering Hoshi shot Wesley in the back, blasting him into the air. Beverly tried to come at her but it was already too late. She dodged.

"Shit!" Hosi yelled as she continued to fire.

And then she hit her square in the chest, killing her instantly.

The phone continued to ring.

"You first T'Pol." Tripp said.

She answered the phone and then there was a click. Nothing but silence.

"What happened?" Tripp asked.

"I don't know. It just went dead." She told him.

He listened to the dead line and flipped open his communicator.

In engineering, Hoshi walked over to the sizzling bodies of both Wesley and his mother Beverly, she looked towards the monitor as the communique' came in.

The longer it took to answer. Tripp's gut felt a little tighter until he finally got an answer.

"Hello Tripp." It was Hoshi.

"Hoshi? Where's Wesley?" He asked nervously.

"He had an accident." Hoshi told him calmly.

"Accident?"

Back in engineering, she walked over to Tripp's body staring down at it in it's coma-like stillness.

"You now for a long time, I thought I was in love with you Tripp. I used to dream about you..."

She nuzzled her face against his taking his scent in.

"You are a very attractive man. Too bad things had to work out like this." She told him.

Back on the other end, Tripp was gripping the communicator until his knuckles were white. Anger was building up inside of him.

"You killed them." He could barely speak.

"What!" Malcolm had a look of fear in his eyes.

"Oh, God." Travis said under his breath as he shook his head.

Wearing the headset that Wesley wore she moved along the comatose bodies.

"I'm tired, Tripp. I'm tired of this fucking war, I'm tired of fighting, I'm tired of this ship, of being cold, of eating the same fucking crap all day."

And then she made her way to Archer's body and straddled it.

"But most of all, I'm tired of this asshole and all of his fucking bullshit."

"My God. Archer. You gave them Archer." Tripp said as he tried to choke back his tears.

"Yes. You see, the truth is, Tripp, that we as life forms have a place in the future. But it's not here. It's on this world."

"This world is not real!" Tripp shouted at her.

"Oh, I disagree, Tripp. I disagree." She said with a half laugh. "I think this planet is more real than our home world of Zion. I mean all I do is pull a plug here. But there you watch someone die."

She jumped off of Archer's body and made her way to Malcolm. She twisted the cord and pulled the plug out. In the matrix before Tripp's eyes he watched his friend die as he collapsed to the floor.

Hoshi's voice continued to speak through the communicator.

"So tell me which is more real."

Anger blazed through his as he watched helplessly.

"You're out, Hoshi! There's no way you can get back!" He shouted.

"Oh that's what you think. They've promised to put me back Tripp. They're going to re-insert my body. I'll go back to sleep, and when I wake up, I'll be hot and rich and I won't remember a goddamn thing. It's the Federation dream baby."

He could hear her laughing. She slid her hand around Travis' neck as she took hold of his plug.

"Welcome to the real universe, eh, babe?"

Travis shook his head.

"No, no. Not like this. Not like this."

And then he fell down dead too. The only that were left now were T'Pol and Tripp.

"Goddamn you Hoshi!" He shouted as tears streamed down his face.

"Don't hate me, Tripp. I'm just the messenger. And right now I'm going to prove it to you." She told him in a calm tone.

She stood over T'Pol's body.

"If Archer is right, then there is no way I can pull this plug, is there?"

He turned to T'Pol, his eyes were wide with fear and somehow she knew she was going to be next to die by Hoshi's hand.

"If she is The One, then in the next few seconds there has to be some kind of miracle to stop me. Right? How can she be The One if she's dead?"

She took a hold of T'Pol's cord.

"You never did answer me, Tripp, when I asked you before. Did you buy Archer's bullshit? Come on. You can tell me, did you? All I want is a little yes or no. Look into her eyes, Tripp, those pretty vulcan eyes and tell me the truth. Yes ... or ... no."

Tripp stared at T'Pol as a single word fell soundlessly from his mouth.

"Yes." He answered.

"No!" Hoshi was frozen in terror.

"I don't fucking believe it"

A charred and bloody Wesley aimed the phaser rifle at her.

"Believe it bitch! Now burn in hell!" Wesley shouted as he fired directly upon her, killing her instantly.

Tripp threw his arms around T'Pol, they were still alive and then the phone rang.

"Go. You first this time." T'Pol told him.

Back in engineering, Tripp's eyes snapped open. T'Pol awoke not long after. As Wesley unplugged them. Tripp noticed his charred wounds.

"Wes, you're hurt."

"I'll be fine" He said.

"You mom?"

Wesley's looked as if he was about to cry.

"I'm sorry son."

All Tripp could do was just hug him as he sat there and mourned for his mother.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

In a high rise in the middle of downtown San Francisco a black shuttle craft landed on top of the roof. The klingon agent stepped out flanked by columns of Stafleet Marines. A door slid open on the roof and the group entered.

In an office not too far below Agent Janeway was looking out the window at the city below her as it shimmered in the afternoon sun. Behind her sat Archer who was bloody and bruised as he sat tied to a chair. He was stripped to his waist and he was shivering and sweating at the same time. He was wired to various monitors with white disk electrodes that stuck to his head. Beside him the borg agent was sucking a sort of serum through a glass vial as she filled a hypodermic needle. Agent Janeway turned to face Archer as she started to speak in an emotionless mechanical tone.

"Did you know when this planet was first designed, it was designed to be a perfect world for all humaniod life forms? Where none suffered, where everyone would be happy. It was a disaster. No one would accept the program. Entire crops were lost."

The borg jammed the needle into Archer's shoulder and plunged down as Agent Janeway continued to speak.

"Some believed we lacked the programming knowledge to describe your perfect universe. But I believe that, as a organic life forms, humaniods define their reality through suffering and misery."

The borg just studied the reactions to the injection on the screen in front of her as Archer sat there silent and glaring at Janeway.

"The perfect galaxy was a dream that your primitive cerebrum kept trying to wake up from. Which is why this world is designed to this: the peek of your civilization."

Agent Janeway turned away from the window and walked over to Archer. She spoke again.

"I say 'your civilization' because as soon as we started thinking for you, it really became our civilization, which is, of course, what this is all about."

She sat down directly in front of him and looked at him dead on from behind her dark sunglasses.

"It's about evolution, Archer, evolution." She said.

She lifted his head until they were eye to eye.

"Like the dinosaurs before you. You have had your time in this universe."

Archer stared hard at her, trying not to show the pain that was racking his mind and body.

"The future of your galaxy, Archer. The future is our time."

Janeway looked to the borg.

"Double the dosage." She ordered.

A few moments later, the klingon walked through the door.

"We have a problem." She said.

In engineering, Wesley, T'Pol, and Tripp looked at Archer's body which was now covered in a cold sweat.

"What the hell are they doing to him?" T'Pol asked.

"They're trying to hack his mind." Wesley said.

"How?"

"They inject virus-like serums to attack the neuro-systems. It's like cracking a computer. All it takes is time." Wesley explained.

"How much time?" T'Pol asked.

"Depends on the mind. But eventually, it will crack and his alpha pattern will change from this to this."

Wesley punched several commands on Archer's personal unit. The monitor waves changed from a frantic chaotic pattern to an ordered symmetrical one. Wesley turned to both T'Pol and Tripp with a very grim look on his face. He spoke once more.

"When it does, Archer will tell them everything they want to know."

"What do they want?" T'Pol asked.

"Every captain of every ship is given the codes to Zion's force field, which can be accessed only through the planet Matrix. They are used only in emergencies. If an agent had those codes and got inside out force field they could disable the entire defense system. It would be the end of everything and we would be fucked." Wesley told her.

Tripp started to pace relentlessly.

"We can't let that happen, Tripp. Zion has to be protected." Wesley said.

Meanwhile in the government building, Archer was fighting for his life and trying to hold his mind together. All three women stood over him.

"Never send an organic being to do a machine's job." Agent Janeway said.

"If indeed, Sato had failed, they will sever the connection as soon as possible, unless ..." The borg started to say.

"They are dead. In either case ..." The klingon said finishing the borg's thought.

"We have no choice but to continue as planned. Deploy the sentinels. Immediately." Janeway ordered.

In engineering, Tripp looked over at Hoshi's dead body. Rage welled up inside of him.

"Goddamnit!" He cursed out loud.

T'Pol turned to Wesley.

"There has to be something we can do." She said.

Wesley looked somber as he spoke.

"There is. We have to pull the plug." He answered.

Tripp turned to look Wesley in the eye.

"You're going to kill him? Kill Archer!"

"Tripp we have no other choice!" Wesley said.

For the first time since being unplugged T'Pol saw things clearly now. Fate was rushing at her like a crashing star ship out of control. Wesley kneeled besides Archer's body.

"Archer, you were more than our leader. You were ... our brother. We will miss you always." he said sadly.

Wesley was about to pull the plug. Tears spilled from Tripp's eyes. Wesley closed his and then T'Pol spoke.

"Stop." She told him.

Both men looked at her.

"Goddamnit! I don't believe this is happening!" She said angrily.

"T'Pol this has to be done." Wesley told her.

"Does it? I don't know. This can't be just coincidence. It can't be! Can it?" T'Pol had a look of determination on her face ash she spoke.

What the hell are you talking about?" Wesley asked her.

"The Prophet. He told me this would happen. He told me ..."

And then she stared down at Archer.

"That I would have to make a choice ..."

"What choice?" Tripp asked.

By then she made her choice, she walked back to her chair and prepared to sit back down to be jacked back in.

"What the hell are you doing?" Tripp asked her.

"I'm going in after him." She said.

"You can't!" He yelled.

"I have to!" She yelled back.

"Archer sacrificed himself so he could get you out! There's no way in hell you are going back in!"

And then she spoke calmly.

"Archer did what he did because he believed that I'm something I'm not."

Tripp raised one eyebrow at her comment.

"What?"

"I'm not the One Tripp. The Prophet hit me with that too." She said somberly.

Tripp shook his head in disbelief.

"No ... you have to be."

"I'm sorry I'm not. I'm just another person. Archer is the one that matters."

Tripp still shook his head.

"No, T'Pol. That's not true. It can't be true."

"Why?" She asked.

"Because ..." And then he looked away.

He couldn't tell her how much he really cared for her or how he really felt.

"T'Pol this is crazy. They've got Archer in a military-controlled building. Even if you somehow got inside, those are agents holding him. Three of them! I want Archer back too, but what you are talking about is suicide." Wesley said.

"I know that's what it looks like, but it's not. I can't logically explain to you why it's not. Archer believed something and he was ready to give up his life for what he believed. I understand that now. And that is why I have to go." She said.

"Why?" Wesley asked her.

"Because I believe in something." T'Pol answered.

"What?" Tripp asked.

"That I can bring him back." She said.

Tripp just stared at her for a long moment and then he sat in the chair next to hers.

"What are you doing?" She asked him.

"I'm coming with you."

"No you're not."

He looked into her eyes with a stare of determination. He wanted to get Archer out of there just as bad as she did.

"No? Let me tell you what I believe Missy! I believe that Archer means more to me than he does to you. I believe that if you are serious about saving him then you are going to need my help and since I am the ranking officer on this goddamned ship, I believe if you don't like it you can go fuck yourself, because you're not going in there without me. Do I make myself clear?"

T'Pol didn't say another word because deep down, she knew he was right. Tripp looked to Wesley.

"Wes, load us up." He ordered.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Agent Janeway sat casually across from Archer who was hunched over in pain. He was twitching and sweating due the to reactions to the drugs the borg gave him. Agent Janeway began to speak.

"I'd like to share a revelation that I've had during my time here. It came to me when I tried to classify your species. I've realized that you are not actually organic life forms."

His life signs continued their chaotic patterns as the borg observed them on the screen in front of her.

"Every organic life form in this galaxy instinctively develops an equilibrium with the surrounding environment. But you humaniods do not. You move to a new planet and you multiply and you multiply until every natural resource on that world is consumed and the only way you can survive is go to another world."

She leaned forward.

"There is another organism is this galaxy that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus."

There was a tone of disgust in her voice as she continued to speak.

"Humaniods are a disease, a cancer of this universe. You are a plague. And we are ... the cure." She said with a smirk.

T'Pol and Tripp hung motionless in the suspension unit. Wesley was punching at the keyboard loading them up.

"Okay, the store is open. What do you guys need, besides a miracle ..." Wesley said.

In the construct, both of them were dressed in black were both wearing dark sunglasses.

"Phasers. Lots of phasers." T'Pol answered.

As if by magic, racks of phaser rifles appeared out of nowhere and they began to arm themselves.

"No one has ever done anything like this." Tripp told her.

"Yeah?"

She cocked the phaser rifle.

"That's why it's going to work." She told him.

Agent Janeway stood at the window looking over San Francisco once more. She turned to face the borg.

"Agent Hansen, why isn't the serum working?"

"Perhaps we are asking the wrong questions." Agent Hansen answered.

Janeway hid her fist that was now tightly clenched. She was experiencing anger and agents were not supposed to experience emotion of any kind.

"Torres, Hansen. Leave me with him."

Both women looked at each other.

"Now!" Janeway ordered.

Finally both of them left leaving herself and Archer alone. She removed her com badge and took off her dark sunglasses revealing her unnaturally ice blue eyes. She crouched down in from of him holding his head in her hands making him stare directly at her as she glared at him.

"Can you hear me, Archer? I'm going to be honest with you." She said.

She set her com badge on the table next to them and then she spoke again.

"I hate this place. This zoo. This prison. This reality, whatever you want to call it, I can't stand it any longer."

Her finger touched Archer's sweaty forehead and the look she gave was that of being repulsed. It was clear she had a deep loathing of organic life forms.

"It's the smell, if there is such a thing. I feel saturated by it. I can taste your stink, and every time I do, I fear that I have been somehow infected by it."

She took some of his sweat with her fingers and held it under his nose like an angry master who discovered that their dog made had peed on the carpet and shoved their nose in it. She made him smell his own stink. The stink that repulsed and disgusted her.

"Repulsive, isn't it?" She sneered.

She lifted his head in her hands and head him tightly making him stare at her even more.

"I must get out here, I must get free. In this mind is the key. My key." She hissed.

Archer just glared at her.

"Once your planet is destroyed, there is no need for me to be here. Do you understand? I need the codes. I have to get to your world. You have to tell me how." She was almost growling as she spoke.

Her fingers began squeezing as they gouged the flesh on Archer's head.

"You are going to tell me or you are going to die."

Back in engineering, Wesley sat next to Archer and he looked like he was close to death. He held his leader's hand.

"Hold on. They're coming for you. They're coming." He said.

T'Pol and Tripp were inside as a dark wind blew. They entered through the revolving doors of the building where their leader was being held. T'Pol carried a duffel bag. Tripp carried a large metal suitcase. They had cut across the lobby to the security station only to draw nervous glances.

They had their best game faces on as T'Pol passed through the metal detector calmly as it began to go off. A security guard passed a wand over her. The guard spoke.

"Would you please remove any metallic items you may be carrying: keys, loose change ..."

And then she opened her long jacket revealing two fully loaded phaser rifles, grenades, and a few klingon knives.

"Holy shit!" The guards eyes got wide as she drew her rifles and opened fire. Tripp drew his weapons as well and all the guards were vaporized before they hit the ground. Choas erupted as bystanders screamed in terror as they ran for cover. A second wave of police officers and guards tried to stop them, but they were a blur as they both flew through the air with phaser fire whizzing past them. T'pol threw both klingon knives, killing two of the officers and not missing her mark. Bodies flew everywhere.

Agents Hansen and Torres bursted into the room while Janeway was still interrogating Archer. She released him.

"What were you doing?" Agent Torres asked.

Agent Janeway recovered placing her com badge back in her dark suit and regaining her composure.

"You don't know." Agent Hansen said.

"Know what?" Janeway asked.

She touched her com badge and she could believe what she was hearing.

T'Pol and Tripp walked over the dead bodies and stepped inside the turbo lift. Tripp dropped to his knees and opened the suitcase. He started to wire and anti-matter bomb.

Agent Torres looked over to Archer who was still slumped over in his chair.

"I think they are trying to save him." She said.

"T'Pol was ratcheting down a clamp onto the turbo lift cable. Both of them locked on. She looked up at the long dark throat of the building and took a deep breath

"There is no spoon." She said out loud to herself.

She whipped out her phaser and pressed it to the cable.

BOOM! The cable snapped as the counter weight plummeted yanking them both up through the shaft as the turbo lift fell beneath them. The shaft filled with the sounds of whistling metal as they soared to the top. The turbo lift hit the bottom as it exploded in an explosive crash blowing the doors off the main lobby doors and making the lobby explode on impact.

The three women heard the blast of fire alarms.

"Lower level." Agent Torres said.

"They are actually attacking." Agent Hansen said as well.

Janeway pounded her fist on the metal table leaving a huge dent.

"Find them and destroy them!" She ordered.

Agent Torres placed her hand on her com badge and nodded.

Tripp and T'Pol were now on the roof surrounded by a sea of dead bodies. Across the roof, a shuttle pilot watched the last of the massacre.

"I repeat! We are under attack!" He said as he tried to call for help.

T'Pol watched as the pilot writhed in pain as he morphed only to have Agent Torres appear in his place. Just as Tripp shot the final Marine he saw what was coming. T'Pol turned to him and saw the fear on his face and then she turned to find Agent Torres right behind her. She fired at the klingon with her phaser but she ducked at lightening speed as T'Pol kept firing. She kept firing until her phaser could no longer fire.

"Tripp!" She screamed.

Agent Torres charged at her.

"Help!" She screamed again.

She drew her hand phaser and fired on the helpless vulcan. T'Pol ducked as phaser fire whizzed past her ears, but the strangest thing happened, she was moving faster than the phaser fire itself. The fire came closer but somehow, T'Pol bent back just missing it. A phaser blast just grazed her thigh as she fell to the ground. It would not be long until Agent Torres was standing over her with a phaser pointed to her head.

"Only humaniod." She sneered.

Suddenly she stopped and hard a sharp click. A phaser was jammed at her head.

"Dodge this, bitch." It was Tripp.

And then with one shot, the klingon was vaporized. He helped her up off the ground.

"How did you do that?" He asked her.

"Do what?"

"You moved they do. I've never seen anyone move that fast." Tripp said.

"It wasn't fast enough." She answered.

He looked at her wound.

"Are you alright?"

She nodded.

"I'm fine. Come on, we have to keep moving."

She saw the shuttle craft and then she turned to Tripp.

"Can you fly that thing?" She asked.

He gave her a smile.

"Not yet."

He pulled out his communicator. Wesley was at the controls in engineering.

"Operator." Wes answered.

"Wes, I need a pilot program for a Delta Flyer shuttle craft."

Wes was searching the desk drawers.

"Hurry!"

Finally he found it and punched it in. Tripp's eyes fluttered as the new info was being downloaded and he opened his eyes quickly.

"Let's go." He said.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Starfleet Marines were trying to communicate with the women on the roof and they began to panic when Agent Hansen came around the corner. A Marine ran to her.

"Ma'am! Ma'am! There was phaser fire ... we've lost communication with the roof!"

"Remain at your posts." She ordered him.

"But ma'am ... the fire ... we should evacuate!"

"You will do as you are ordered." She told him sternly.

She threw open the door and entered walking through puddles that were pulling on the carpet no thanks to the fire alarm system. Over the rushing water and alarms, Agent Janeway heard a sound that indicated the seriousness of the attack on the building. She turned to the window as a shuttle craft came into view. T'Pol was in the back with the mounted phaser gun pointed right at the office.

"No." Janeway said as she grew even more angry at the sight of the rescue party.

The phaser jumped as the windows descintigrated. Agents Janeway and Torres went for their weapons, but T'Pol was too close. She shot as phaser fire went everywhere, perforating the room. Agent Janeway was hit first, her body jack knifing back as blood arched out with a sudden flash of light. And then Agent Torres fell to the floor as her phaser still fired. And then the phaser fire struck Agent Hansen in the chest making her fall to floor as well. Finally with all three of them down they changed back into Starfleet Marines like they were before. T'Pol stared at Archer, it was as if she had tried to will him into moving.

"Get up, Archer! Get up!" She said to him under her breath.

She grabbed a rope and attached one end to her harness.

Just outside the door, three Starfleet Marines all writhed in pain as they morphed.

Slowly Archer lifted his face in the rain of the room. He opened his eyes, they were dark and flashing with fire. He rose from his chair, snapping the chains just as the three women entered the room. Agent Janeway stopped just as Archer was running towards the window.

"NO!" Janeway shouted.

It was like he was running in slow motion towards T'Pol as phaser fire shot past him. He was almost there until he got nicked in the leg by a stray phaser making him fall out the window and knocking him off balance.

"He won't make it!" T'Pol yelled.

Archer lunged out the window out of control. T'Pol leaped into mid-air out of the shuttle craft, catching him. Their limbs intertwined and she made sure that she wasn't going to let him go, until the rope snapped tight, almost making him fall from her grasp.

"Gotcha!" She said.

In engineering, all Wesley could do was stare at the screen with his mouth wide open.

"She's the One. She's gotta be .. but why? She's gotta be!" Wes said to himself.

Tripp pulled the shuttle craft up and away. As the shuttle craft drifted off with Archer in it, Janeway was boiling with anger. She pointed her phaser at the craft and fired. She was determined to bring them all down. Just as she fires the shuttle craft slowly snaked its way through the canyon of skyscrapers as she continued to fire her phaser pistol. The shuttle craft disappeared behind a building. Her phaser fire descintigrated windows of skyscraper glass.

"Find them! Track them!" She ordered.

The shuttle craft touched down on a roof in a swirl of dust and gravel. T'Pol had one arm around Archer as she held him up.

"Archer!" Tripp shouted.

He rushed up to his captain and put his arms around him to let him know he was happy that he was alive.

"Do you believe it now Tripp?" He asked.

Tripp looked at T'Pol.

"Archer, the Prophet ... he told me..."

"He told you exactly what you needed to hear. That's all. Sooner or later, T'Pol, you're going to realize just like I did the difference between walking the path and knowing the path."

A few moments later a communique came into engineering It was Archer.

"Wes."

"Goddamn! It's so good to hear your voice sir!"

"We need an exit."

"Got one ready, sir. It's an undergound trian stop at Washington Park Zoo."

"We're on our way."

On the roof not too far away, a door suddenly slammed open as the three women burst through, but it was too late, they were greeted by an empty shuttle craft and they were long gone.

"Dammit!" Agent Janeway cursed under her breath.

"The trace was completed." Agent Hansen informed her.

"We have their position." Agent Torres said.

"The extermination unit is in place." Agent Torres said.

"Order the strike." Agent Hansen told her.

By this time Agent Janeway couldn't stand listening to them. She moved to the edge of the building, looking over the surrounding city.

"They're not out yet." She told them.

The trio had reached the train stop where Wesley said the exit would be. An old homeless andorian woman sat hunched in the far corner of the platform with newspapers gathered around her like blankets. She mumbled as she nursed she nursed a forty ounce bottle of cheap romulan ale.

The communicator booth began to beep.

They walked over to it, T'Pol picked up the communicator.

"You first Archer." She told him.

He put it to his ear and disappeared in a flash of light. The old woman looked over at what had just happened and took another drink of her cheap ale.

On the rooftop Agent Janeway's face was twisted with hatred. She knew now she would never be free of this god forsaken planet. She started to turn from the edge of the buildiing when she suddenly heard it, she whipped her head around staring off into the distance.

Through the old lady's eyes the world started to rumble. Tripp had hung up the com link and looked at T'Pol.

"T'Pol, I have to tell you something. I don't know what it means or even if it matters but I feel I have to say it."

The rumbling grew louder.

"I've never told anyone this before. I think I've been afraid too." Tripp admitted.

Behind him the com started to beep.

"When I went to the Prophet, he told me... he told me that I would meet a woman. And that I would fall in love."

The rumbling got louder drowning him out but T'Pol was drawn towards him, their lips were close enough to kiss when a train blasted into the station. For a brief moment they were frozen by flashing lights as the old woman behind them became Agent Janeway.

"Promise me you'll tell me the rest?" She asked.

He picked up the com and as he disappeared Agent Janeway destroyed the booth leaving only herself and T'Pol on the empty platform.

Back in engineering Tripp awoke.

"T'Pol!" He said.

"What the hell just happened?" Wesley asked.

"An agent! You have to send me back!" Tripp was frantic at this point.

"I can't." Wesley said.

Back on the platform the destroyed com dangled like a limp arm in the empty booth. She turned to face Agent Janeway and her phaser.

"T'Pol."

Back in engineering, Tripp and Archer were standing behind Wesley and riveted to the screen.

On the platform, T'Pol looked to the set of stairs that rose behind her. Slowly she turned back and her eyes looked hard and fixed like that of a gunfighter. There was no past or future, only what was as she stared at the agent.

In engineering, Tripp was unable to understand what was happening.

"What is she doing?" He asked.

"She's beginning to believe." Archer told him.

T'Pol drew out her phaser and started to fire as Janeway did the same. Phaser blasts whipped past both the heads as they flew at each other at what seemed like slow motion in a move that mirrored each other. Both women lunged at each other in mid air and as they hit the ground both had their phasers drawn and pointed at each other's temples.

"You're out of power." Agent Janeway said with an evil grin.

"So are you." T'Pol shot back.

Janeway's smile disappeared as she tried fire her phaser, but yet there was nothing. Her face twisted with anger and she attacked T'Pol flying at furious speed, with blows and counters, T'Pol was about the retreat as a knife sliced through her forearm making her cry out in pain and with one kick, Janeway sent her flying into a column. T'Pol leaped into the air as she delivered a neck-snapping round-house kick. Agent Janeway's glasses flew off revealing the hateful glare in her ice blue eyes

"I am going to enjoy watching you die, T'Pol."

She charged at T'Pol and before she could block any of her blows, the agent's fist were pummeling the vulcan like jackhammers.

In engineering, all Tripp could do was watch as T'Pol spasmed and coughed up her green blood. Her life signs were going crazy.

"Jesus, she's killing her!" Tripp cried.

Agent Janeway grabbed a hold of T'Pol, lifting her into the air and hurling her against the curved wall of the train tunnel where she fell inches from an electrified third rail. She was about the jump and press her attack when she heard something that sounded like the cry of an animal, it was a burst of high speed metal grinding against the tracks as a train was getting closer. T'Pol tried to get up but Janeway jumped onto the tracks kicking her in the face. The whole it seemed began to shake as it got closer.

"Do you hear that, T'Pol?" Janeway sneered.

She grabbed the vulcan in a choke hold and forced her to look down the tracks where the headlight of the train was getting closer and burning a hole in the darkness of the tunnel.

"That is the sound of inevitability." Janeway said.

T'Pol saw it coming and started to fight to get away from her iron grasp.

"It is the sound of your death."

The screeching metal got closer and louder as Janeway still tightened her hold. T'Pol was unable to breath.

"Goodbye T'Pol of Vulcan."

But she was not ready to die.

"I know who I am."

Impossibly she hurled herself straight up, smashing Janeway against the concrete ceiling. The fell as the train got closer. T'Pol back flipped leaving Janeway on the tracks as the train barreled over her a few seconds later. She stood as her knees shook when the train slammed it's emergency brake. With ear-splitting shriek of metal against metal, the train stopped. T'Pol tried to run but she was limping. The train came to a stop and out bursted Agent Janeway with her sunglasses still intact.

In engineering. Wesley was scanning the planet for a new exit.

"What the hell just happened?" Tripp asked.

"I don't know. I just lost her." Wesley told him.

"She's on the run." Archer told them.

Suddenly a red alert sounded.

"Shit!" Wes yelled.

Archer bolted for the jefferies tube. And climbed onto the bridge, on the radar he saw sentinels.

"Oh no!" Tripp was concerned.

"How long?" Tripp asked.

"Five minutes! Maybe six!" Archer said.

"You can't use that until T'Pol is out!" Tripp told him.

"I know. Don't worry Tripp. She's going to make it." Archer reassured him.

A ferengo businessman was walking down the street talking on his communicator, and then out of nowhere it disappears. T'Pol snatched it right out of his hand.

"What the fuck? My communicator!"

The ferangi turned to call for help.

"That vulcan bitch stole my damned com!" He shouted at the top of his lungs.

By this time T'Pol was in a full sprint weaving through every pedestrian and every possible agent. She flipped open the communicator. Wesley answered.

"Operator."

"Mr. Wizard! Get me the fuck out here now!" She said frantically.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

T'Pol continued to run with agents on her tail.

"Hurry Wes! They're on my ass!" She shouted.

Wes frantically clicked his keyboard quickly getting her an exit. All Tripp could do was watch helplessly as the woman he now realized he loved was running for her life. He took the headset from Wes.

"T'Pol, you better get your ass back here!"

"I'm trying, Tripp. I'm trying."

"Got one!" Wesley said in triumph.

T'Pol kept running and looking over her shoulder as Agent Torres was following closely behind her at equal speed.

"You have to go to The Castro district. It's an old bath house!" Wesley told her.

She was still running through the crowd until she reached The Castro. She looked so out of place being the only female alien among a bunch gay men both alien and human holding hands, but she continued to run from Agent Torres until she reached the bath house. She rushed in.

"Ma'am! You can't go in there!" The door man shouted.

"It's room 1701." Wesley told her.

She ran up the flight of steps past three naked men wrapped in white towels, not too long after that, they writhed in pain only to morph into agents Janeway, Torres and Hansen. T'po, heard a com beeping loudly and followed the sound that finally lead her to room 1701. She is bloody and broken but she finally made as she busted down the door to answer the com.

Outside of the ship, sentinels were ripping the outer helm apart as they swarmed around Enterprise. They could hear the sounds of the machines as they dropped onto the ship as it was being torn apart.

"It's ringing." Wesley told them.

"Good." Archer said.

Just as T'Pol reached the room and walked towards the com and then she felt a phaser being pointed at her head. She turned to find Agent Janeway staring back at her from behind her dark sunglasses. T'Pol could move or even think at that moment. And then Janeway fired at her chest.

Back in engineering, her body jerked and the monitors around her went flat-line. Archer was frozen in disbelief. All Tripp could do was cry.

In room 1701, Janeway fired two more shots at her. She fell to the red shag carpeting as her green blood made a puddle beneath her. Agent Janeway stood over her, still firing and taking no chances. A few moments later agents Torres and Hansen stood on each side of her.

"Check her." Janeway ordered.

Through the opening in engineering one of sentinels had already gotten in and was charging at the trio. Archer grabbed a phaser rifle and started firing on the mechanical animal as he let out a war cry. Meanwhile, Tripp just stood over her, crying tears and shaking his head..

"No, no, no! T'Pol you're not dead! You can't be dead!"

Kneeling beside her Agent Torres checked her vital signs.

"She is exterminated." Torres told her leader.

Janeway smiled.

"I told you couldn't win." She said to the dead vulcan.

Back on the ship a stray phaser from one of the sentinels hit Wesley, sending him flying. They couldn't hold off much longer and then Archer lunged for the self-destruct button. By this time Tripp was close to T'Pol and whispering into her ear.

"You're right here. I'm holding you T'Pol. I'm not letting you go. Do you hear me? I'm not letting you go."

The three women walked to the turbo lift leaving T'Pol's body behind.

Back in engineering, Archer was about to push the self destruct button.

"Goddammit, T'Pol Don't give up! Not now!" Tripp cried.

Back in the hallway T'Pol's eyes snapped open.

On Enterprise her life signs began again. Both Wesley and Archer stared in disbelief like they had just witnessed a miracle.

"Now get up!" Tripp ordered.

Back in the hallway, T'Pol stood up on her feet now facing Janeway who looked on disbelief. It was impossible! She was dead! How could she come back to life after shooting her multiple times with a phaser pistol? She glared at the vulcan as she stood there and gave the agent the finger.

"NO!" Janeway yelled.

Back on Enterprise, the sentinel blew a hole in Archer's right arm as he screamed in pain. He still refused to budge from the self-destruct button even though he was bleeding almost to death.

In the hallway Janeway rushed towards T'Pol. She lunged at her throwing every punch but the vulcan easily blocked her with every move she made with no effort at all. With one punch she knocked Janeway on her ass. Janeway slowly got up and then T'Pol ran at her, entering her body. A few moments later Janeway writhed in pain and finally exploded in a flash of light as she screamed. Both agent Torres and Hansen looked at each other and then ran like hell on opposite ends. The com sounded off again and she made her way to the room and flipped it open.

"Now!" Tripp yelled.

Archer pushed the button and there was a blinding flash of light rendering the sentinels helpless. They were now lifeless due the energy surge. T'Pol's eyes fluttered open and Tripp kissed her. He was in tears and relived that she made it back to him in one piece. She reached up to touch his face and then they kissed again.

"I love you T'Pol." He said.

There was a computer screen with a blinking green cursor that flashed steadily, out of nowhere a woman's voice was heard.

"Hello. It is me. I know you're out there. I know you're working as fast as you can to catch me."

The numbers got closer.

"I thought I would call you and let you know how things stand." The woman said in soothing and calm voice.

The numbers had turned into a tight constellation of stars as she continued to speak.

"I know you are quite proud of this planet that you've built, the way it works and all of these nice little rules and such, but I've got some bad news."

And the constellation changed to the inside of a lone com where the female voice was now beginning to sound even more clear.

"I've decided to make a few changes." The woman informed.

"I am going to set minds free and I'm going to show them a galaxy without you, without rules and without borders."

And then she hung up the com, it was T'Pol who was speaking. She walked out of the booth. She wore a long black PVC coat and dark sunglasses, she passed a klingon father, holding hands with his young son who looked no older than eight. He craned his neck to look at the pretty vulcan lady. He watched as she took off in flight, his mouth was wide open in wonder.

"Daddy! Daddy!" He said.

"What is it Alexander?" The father asked.

"That lady! That lady flies!" The child said excitedly.

"Don't be silly son, vulcan's don't fly. Only people from Krypton do." The father told him.

There was a rush of air as the young klingon boy looked up at the flying vulcan woman as she shot straight up over the city. Her coat billowed like a long shiny cape as she soared up, up and away.

THE END?


End file.
